Marc Dion: "Apartment for Rent: Will Consider Islamic Refugee" (Creators Syndicate)
I own a 100-year-old three-decker house in a Massachusetts mill town. Each floor is its own apartment. We live in one of the apartments and rent the other two. If you do this right, the rent coming in from two units will nearly cover your mortgage.
Lenore Skenazy: The Lost Shall Be Found (Creators Syndicate)
It's about as trite a story as you can get: Last week, I lost my phone on the bus here in my burg, New York City. Before I even realized it was missing, I sat down at my computer and found emails from my family: "Call a lady named Grace. She has your phone."
Charlie Jones: 5 Things Nobody Tells You About Living in Japan (Cracked)
Two years ago, I achieved alpha-geek status among my friends by moving to Japan. Since then, all I've been hearing from them is how lucky I am and how they would murder any endangered species still clinging tenaciously to existence in exchange for permission to live in my closet. And I totally get it, because come on, it's Japan -- the wackiest, most interesting place on the planet. Who wouldn't want to live here?
Mrs. Silence Dogood was a pen name used by Benjamin Franklin to get his work published in the New-England Courant, a newspaper founded and published by his brother James Franklin. This was after Benjamin Franklin was denied several times when he tried to publish letters under his own name in the Courant. The 14 Mrs. Silence Dogood letters were first printed in 1722.
Source
Randall was first and correct with:
Benjamin Franklin
Banjo-man
mj wrote:
That name was used by
Gender bender Benjamin Franklin.
Alan J said:
Bejamin Franklin.
Deborah responded:
Mrs. Silence Dogood was a nom de plume of Ben Franklin - he couldn't get anything published until he pretended to be a widow.
Wow, was I way off base on Saturday's TQ. Not surprising, however, as I have watched fewer than a dozen Simpson's shows. It's just not my cuppa.
Another frost warning, and brrrr! It's chilly out there.
Jim from CA, retired to ID, replied:
Benjamin Franklin
Marian said:
Benjamin Franklin
DanD responded:
Why, no other than that syphilis-suffering Founding Father, Mr.
"I-didn't-have-to-be-President-to-be-on-the-money," Benny the Frank
(Benjamin Franklin).
Lois Of The Cave People Of Oregon answered:
Benjamin Delano Franklin, the only President Of The United States, who was NEVER president of the United States, when not in attendance at the Hellfire Club, liked to dress up in something frilly and dispense advice to the occasionally washed masses regarding the hoarding of pennies and the slaying of tyrants. Rupert Murdoch can only DREAM of being so awesome, or of looking as good in a dress!
Was 20 degrees last night and I forgot to leave a faucet open, but thank the Flying Spaghetti Monster, it warmed up to 40 and the toilet flushes again! Miracle of miracles, I also got a HOT SHOWER today! PLUMBING! Man's greatest achievement!
DJ Useo responded:
Well played, Marty. I confess the answer is unknown to me at this occasion. I raise a glass in salute to you.
MAM wrote:
Benjamin Franklin ~ Franklin's first pseudonym, created when he was sixteen years old and serving as a printer's apprentice to his brother, used to get his work published in the New-England Courant.
Joe S said:
Benjamin Franklin. I didn't know that, never came across it, and me an History Major. Well I can take solace in the fact that "Frasier" wasn't the correct answer to the last quiz. That's good but "The Simpson's?" I should have guessed that, but I'm a little off my feed.
Dale of Diamond Springs, Norfallcali took the day off.
Charlie took the day off.
Sally has retired, but still pays attention.
BttbBob has returned to semi-retired status.
~~~~~
Don't look now at our Statue of Liberty in NYC but if you squint you will see some cheap and beat up "No Vacancy" neon sign flickering at the feet of the Statue of Liberty. Guess someone from one of those conservative "Freedom" groups must have bought it at a garage sale and put it up so there would be no confusion to any foreigners requesting permission to enter our country. It is a new day in America I guess. Or maybe I should say it's a flash back to 1939 in Miami when we also put up a "Stay Out' sign, then it was intended for a ship bringing foreigners (Jewish refugees) from Europe trying to high tail it out of certain death too so I guess one shouldn't be all that surprised at the current mood.
I don't know much about the law of gravity that dude Isaac Newton came up with but basically it's what's goes up must come down I think and until this anti-immigration thing really took off I just assumed that Donald Trump's fantasy of becoming the Prez would fall to earth like a fast leaking Goodyear blimp. From reading the polls this morning I guess not. Yes monkeys may fly out of my butt soon as there is a reasonable chance The Donald could be sitting in the White House come January 2017. Really all he needs is for some well timed strife and violence around the world for that old "Not In My Backyard" fever to once again take hold and he is our next commander in chief. Said fever has caused all sorts of ugly mayhem in this country previously (see Japanese internment camps) and it seems these days it could come with a steroid booster shot. As the campaign template has been drawn up all President Trump in waiting has to do now is sit and wait for tragedy to be delivered to his door.
I understand that some reading this bunch of words would be nothing but happy if this scenario does in fact occur but if you would do me a favor, go to that ancestry.com website and take a peek at your own family tree. It won't take long to see that though you probably knew someone in your family came from a country overseas way back, you would not be alive right now if previous Americans had locked the door on your family. Sad thing is I'm pretty sure not even being alive right now is reason enough to change the minds of those opposed to taking in Syrian refugees. Nope, not many will move off of their position of "hell no" because they love their country as it is and see no reason to add to the already excessive number of foreigners already walking around our streets. Hey, for the record I have not even brought up the subject of "that path to citizenship" for those darn Hispanics so just chill out ok? I will leave that topic for another day but just remember if the wet dream of the GOP base ever does become reality and 11 million people are rounded up and transported out of this country by an army of Uber drivers the bill not counting the tip will be humongous. Just putting it out there should anyone care about that fiscal thingy.
You know something about the GOP became clear to me a while back, if it doesn't affect them on a direct and personal level then it isn't real. It's a liberal fantasy. Re gay people, if they don't have a close relative or a best friend who just came out then it's out of sight, out of mind. Ditto with the homeless, bad schools, racism, etc. Either those issues get directly inserted into the lives of those who exist within their self-imposed bubble or they will continue to oppose everything and everyone that does not benefit them or theirs. So this is the challenge we face if we wish to see a slightly less "Thunderdome Ayn Randesque" culture in this country. How do we bring reality to these citizens? It won't be delivered via cable TV news that's for sure. Duh. Probably not by heart to heart discussions with moderate relatives or even psychiatric care as this is too big a lift for conventional means. Really the only way I see these individuals opening up to the needs of those outside their immediate circle is to sweep them all up via black helicopters and drop them somewhere in that sandy part of the world with best wishes. Now of course we would go back and pick them up after a few weeks as we don't want to see them harmed but you can be assured they will not come back with the same world view. Ok maybe we let them bring a maximum of 6 firearms from their personal collection so they can finally fire them at something other than pop cans and a stray deer. That could be one of those win-win's depending who they shoot at.
Now this suggestion on how to get some of our conservative friends and family to care more about their fellow man might cause some friction in the short term but I guarantee future holiday dinners will be so much more pleasant, quite possibly devoid of most vulgar epithets currently being tossed about at the table. Yes, this might be a pipe dream for some families even if my proposal is put into practice. I get it. There are some people who are beyond reason and were probably put on this earth to fill the role of being an asshole. Maybe there is a need for them that I am not aware of. It's possible. All I know is I'm just trying to help out here. If you can come up with a better idea on how to entice selfish individuals to maybe lighten up a bit then by all means let me know. You know how to get ahold of me. Later.
Patriot Act NSA Spying Unconstitutional Section 215 National Security Letters Must End
My name is Marc Perkel and I have decided to announce that I will not comply with the so called "Patriot Act" laws requiring me to disclose information about my customers. If I receive a national security letter I will immediately photograph it, post it online everywhere I can, and then make a video of me burning it. I will then await my arrest. If you want to put me in jail then come get me mother fucker.
CBS opens the night with a FRESH'Supergirl', followed by a FRESH'Scorpion', then a FRESH'NCIS: The Expendable One'.
On a RERUNStephen Colbert (from 11/10/15) are Aziz Ansari, Shonda Rhimes, Bruce Campbell, Lucy Lawless, and Liam Neeson.
Scheduled on a FRESHJames Corden, OBE, are Taye Diggs, Amy Landecker, and 5 Seconds of Summer.
NBC begins the night with a FRESH'The Voice', followed by a FRESH'Superstore', then another FRESH'Superstore'.
Scheduled on a FRESHJimmy Fallon are J.J. Abrams, Pink, and the Flaming Lips.
On a RERUNSeth Meyers (from 9/18/15) are Ed Burns, Richard Kind, Judy Blume, and Abe Laboriel Jr.
On a RERUNCarson 'The Scab' Daly (from 10/6/15) are Nathan Fillion, Alan Tudyk, Strung Out, and Davis Guggenheim.
ABC starts the night with the FRESH'It's Your 50th Christmas, Charlie Brown', followed by the chestnut 'A Charlie Brown Christmas', then a FRESH'The Great Holiday Baking Show'.
Jimmy Kimmel has the dreaded "TBA".
The CW offers a FRESH'Crazy Ex-Girlfriend', followed by a FRESH'Greatest Holiday Commercials Countdown'.
Faux has a FRESH'Gotham', followed by a FRESH'Minority Report'.
MY has 'TMZ (Not So) Live', followed by 'Hollywood Today (Not So) Livel'.
AMC offers the movie 'Erin Brockovich', followed by the movie 'Home Alone', then the movie 'Home Alone', again.
BBC -
[6:00AM] Planet Earth-Ep 7 - Great Plains
[7:00AM] Planet Earth-Ep 8 - Jungles
[8:00AM] Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares UK - Season 5 - Ep 1 - The Runaway Girl
[9:00AM] Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares US - Season 4 - Ep 5 - DownCity
[10:00AM] Doctor Who - Season 5 - Ep 12 - The Pandorica Opens
[11:00AM] Doctor Who - Season 5 - Ep 13 - The Big Bang
[12:00PM] Star Trek: The Next Generation - Season 3 - Ep 15 - Yesterday's Enterprise
[1:00PM] Star Trek: The Next Generation - Season 3 - Ep 16 - The Offspring
[2:00PM] Star Trek: The Next Generation - Season 6 - Ep 16 - Birthright (Part 1)
[3:00PM] Star Trek: The Next Generation - Season 6 - Ep 17 - Birthright (Part 2)
[4:00PM] Man vs. Wild - Season 3 - Ep 7 - Turkey
[5:00PM] Man vs. Wild - Season 3 - Ep 8 - Belize
[6:00PM] Man vs. Wild - Season 3 - Ep 9 - Dominican Republic
[7:00PM] Man vs. Wild - Season 2 - Ep 10 - Namibia (Part 1)
[8:00PM] Man vs. Wild - Season 2 - Ep 11 - Zambia (Part 2)
[9:00PM] Top Gear - Season 10 - Episode 4 - Botswana Special
[10:00PM] Top Gear: India Special - Season 17
[12:00AM] Robin Hood: Men in Tights
[2:30AM] Robin Hood: Men in Tights
[5:00AM] Top Gear - Season 17 - Episode 4 (ALL TIMES EST)
Bravo has 'Vanderpump Rules', 'Real Housewives of Atlanta', followed by a FRESH'Vanderpump Rules', then a FRESH'Apres Ski'.
Comedy Central has 3 hours of old 'South Park', 'Archer', and another 'Archer'.
Scheduled on a FRESHThe Daily Show is Spike Lee.
Scheduled on a FRESH@Midnight are Brent Morin, Rick Glassman, and Michelle Beadle.
FX has the movie 'Taken', followed by the movie 'Taken 2', followed by a FRESH'Fargo'.
History has 'The Men Who Built American', followed by the FRESH'The Making Of T-rump'.
IFC -
[6:00AM] COMEDY BANG! BANG!-Joel McHale
[6:15AM] GHOSTBUSTERS
[8:30AM] GHOSTBUSTERS II
[11:00AM] GHOSTBUSTERS
[1:15PM] GHOSTBUSTERS II
[3:45PM] GHOSTBUSTERS
[6:00PM] THAT '70S SHOW-Time Is on My Side
[6:30PM] THAT '70S SHOW-Let's Spend the Night Together
[7:00PM] THAT '70S SHOW-(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction
[7:30PM] THAT '70S SHOW-Beast of Burden
[8:00PM] THAT '70S SHOW-It's Only Rock 'n' Roll
[8:30PM] THAT '70S SHOW-Rip This Joint
[9:00PM] THAT '70S SHOW-Mother's Little Helper
[9:30PM] THAT '70S SHOW-Angie
[10:00PM] THAT '70S SHOW-You Can't Always Get What You Want
[10:30PM] THAT '70S SHOW-Surprise, Surprise
[11:00PM] CASINO
[3:00AM] KILLER ELITE
[5:30AM] THAT '70S SHOW-Angie (ALL TIMES EST)
Sundance -
[6:00AM] Fantastic Mr. Fox
[8:00AM] History of the World: Part I
[10:00AM] Rudy
[12:30PM] Five Easy Pieces
[3:00PM] Easy Rider
[5:00PM] Heartbreak Ridge
[8:00PM] Wyatt Earp
[12:30AM] The Perfect Storm
[3:15AM] Michael Clayton (ALL TIMES EST)
SyFy has the movie 'King Kong', followed by the movie 'Zombieland'.
TBS:
Scheduled on a FRESHConan are David Spade and Jenna Dewan Tatum.
British actress Emma Thompson (R) with British fashion designer Vivienne Westwood (L) with indigenous women from South America during a climate change march demonstration in London, Britain, 29 November 2015. World leaders are to meet for the The 21st Conference of the Parties (COP21) due to be held in Paris from 30 November to 11 December.
Photo by Andy Rain
Environmental activist group Sea Shepherd warned Japan on Sunday against resuming "research" whaling in the Antarctic and called on the Australian government to intervene.
After a decade of harassment by Sea Shepherd, Japan was forced to abandon its 2014-15 Southern Ocean hunt after the International Court of Justice said the annual expedition was a commercial activity masquerading as research.
But on Saturday Japanese media reported that it would start again next year, despite a call by global regulators for more evidence that the expeditions have a scientific purpose.
During the suspension of Japan's whale hunt, Sea Shepherd has been targeting the catching of rare Antarctic and Patagonian toothfish in the Southern Ocean.
Women promote selling rakes, known as "kumade", decorated with imitation gold coins and other objects during the Tori-no-Ichi fair at Ohtori shrine in downtown Tokyo, Japan, November 29, 2015. The decorative "kumade" miniatures are sold, along with various other charms, to symbolise raking in fortune for the businesses, during this festival. The Tori-no-Ichi fair has been held twice or thrice every November since the Japanese Edo era.
Photo by Issei Kato
Rob Garofalo was devastated. He'd built his medical and research career on helping young AIDS patients. Then he learned that he, too, was HIV-positive. The news came after he'd already survived kidney cancer and a breakup with his longtime partner.
Try as he might, the doctor could not heal himself, at least not emotionally.
He got a dog.
His journey back to life started with simple things. He had to leave the apartment where he'd isolated himself to buy food for Fred. He had to talk to the many people who wanted to stop and pet the little dog. Garofalo also found comfort when he'd awaken with one of his frequent night terrors and have Fred to snuggle.
He began a project called "When Dogs Heal," with the help of a dog photographer named Jesse Freidin and a Chicago-based writer named Zach Stafford. It tells the stories of HIV-positive people and their dogs in an exhibit launching in Chicago on Tuesday, Dec. 1, which is World AIDS Day, and also in New York City two days later.
About a third of the world's cactus species are threatened with extinction, the International Union for Conservation of Nature warns in a new report.
The study evaluated 1,478 species and determined that 31 percent are endangered due to factors such as the conversion of wilderness areas to farming and ranching, urban development and the harvest of cactus seeds and plants for trade and private collection.
"We show that cacti are among the most threatened taxonomic groups assessed to date ... demonstrating the high anthropogenic pressures on biodiversity in arid lands," said the report, which was published in the journal Nature Plants.
It identified hotspots of endangered cactuses across the Americas, from the southern Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul and parts of neighboring Uruguay north to the Mexican states of Queretaro, San Luis Potosi, Oaxaca and Puebla.
A women wears a gas mask during a protest rally in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, Sunday, Nov. 29, 2015 to promote climate protection ahead of the Paris Climate Conference, COP21, to be held in Paris, France, from Nov. 30 until Dec. 11, 2015.
Photo by Frank Rumpenhorst
The pale, zombie-like addicts staggering through concrete underpasses make an unlikely scene in wealthy Norway's picturesque second city. As a gateway to the fjords which zigzag the oil-rich nation's long coastline, Bergen is the last stop on a global drug route that gives it one of the worst heroin problems in Europe.
Now with a change in local government here and in the capital, Oslo, there is an appetite to use radical policies to curb the alarming number of Norwegians who die from heroin overdoses each year. Alongside traditional replacement therapies, such as methadone, the new left-wing local leaders want to use a medical form of injectable heroin to treat the most at-risk users.
The official goal is to wean them off the drug entirely, but even the most ardent supporters admit the most achievable target is to bring them within a safer environment, while helping to tackle the crime associated with heavy drug use.
Norway has the worst heroin mortality rate in Western Europe with 70 drug deaths per million inhabitants in 2013, according to the EU's drugs watchdog, the European Monitoring Center for Drugs and Drugs Addiction. In the continent as a whole, Norway trails only Estonia, with 127 deaths per million. The average is 16.
U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump (R-Pendejo) insisted on Sunday he was "100 percent right" when he said he saw thousands of Muslims in Jersey City, New Jersey, cheering the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center, even though fact-checkers have debunked his assertion.
In a phone interview on NBC's "Meet the Press," Trump said he has heard from "hundreds of people that agree" that there were televised Muslim celebrations of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, which he used as evidence to show his remarks were true.
"I saw it. So many people saw it," said Trump, who, in the race for the November 2016 election, has been among the most vocal of the Republican candidates in expressing skepticism about Muslims in the United States. "So, why would I take it back? I'm not going to take it back."
When NBC anchor Chuck Todd (R-Corporate Spokesmodel) suggested the people Trump heard from are supporters and might want to agree with him, Trump interrupted to note the "huge Muslim population" New Jersey has.
"Why wouldn't it have taken place?" he said of a celebration there. "I've had hundreds of people call in and tweet in on Twitter, saying that they saw it and I was 100 percent right."
Activists form a human chain during a protest ahead of the 2015 Paris Climate Conference, in Paris, Sunday, Nov. 29, 2015. More than 140 world leaders are gathering around Paris for high-stakes climate talks that start Monday, and activists are holding marches and protests around the world to urge them to reach a strong agreement to slow global warming.
Photo by Christophe Ena
This time, it's a hotter, waterier, wilder Earth that world leaders are trying to save.
The last time that the nations of the world struck a binding agreement to fight global warming was 1997, in Kyoto, Japan. As leaders gather for a conference in Paris on Monday to try to do more, it's clear things have changed dramatically over the past 18 years.
Some differences can be measured: degrees on a thermometer, trillions of tons of melting ice, a rise in sea level of a couple of inches. Epic weather disasters, including punishing droughts, killer heat waves and monster storms, have plagued Earth.
As a result, climate change is seen as a more urgent and concrete problem than it was last time.
"At the time of Kyoto, if someone talked about climate change, they were talking about something that was abstract in the future," said Marcia McNutt, the former U.S. Geological Survey director who was picked to run the National Academies of Sciences. "Now, we're talking about changing climate, something that's happening now. You can point to event after event that is happening in the here and now that is a direct result of changing climate."
In the rapidly gentrifying nation's capital, real estate investors aren't the only ones flipping houses for profit. The city's public housing authority is getting in on the action - moving aging tenants out of homes where they've lived for decades, renovating them and selling them to wealthy buyers.
The renovations, at a cost of more than $300,000 per home, are outfitting the houses with luxury amenities, and some of the houses have sold for nearly $900,000. Others, however, have sat vacant for a year or longer after tenants were forced out.
The housing authority plans to use the profits to renovate existing subsidized rental units and build new ones. But most of that work hasn't started, and none of the money has gone to new construction yet, according to the agency. Meanwhile, sales have been slow-moving and haphazard.
Some elderly tenants and their children have asked for an opportunity to purchase the homes, only to be rebuffed, even after spending thousands of dollars maintaining the rental properties.
One home, on a well-kept block in Capitol Hill, has been vacant since late 2013, when the longtime tenants - Lula Brooks, 81, and her husband, Sonny, 82 - were abruptly moved out. Brooks and her son said the housing authority threw away many of her belongings - including a washing machine, furniture, clothing and personal documents. The authority disputes this account, but Brooks' next-door neighbor, Jon Wadsworth, told The Associated Press he watched as employees threw the belongings away.
The Gavlebocken (Gavle Goat), which is a traditionally Christmas display, is seen erected at Slottstorget (Castle Square) in central Gavle, Sweden, November 29, 2015. The giant straw statue of a goat is an enlarged version of the traditional Swedish Yule Goat figure and has been erected annually in the town since 1966, at the beginning of Advent.
Photo by Mats Astrand
As Hong Kong seeks to expand its international airport and with a major new bridge project under way, campaigners warn that the dwindling number of much-loved pink dolphins in surrounding waters may disappear altogether.
Conservationists say their repeated concerns have fallen on deaf ears, with what they describe as a "rapid" decline of the mammal in the past few decades.
The Chinese white dolphin -- popularly known as the pink dolphin due to its pale pink colouring -- draws scores of tourists daily to the waters north of Hong Kong's Lantau island.
But despite the affection felt towards the dolphin, campaigners say there may soon be none left.
The naked arms and lower body of Russian conceptual artist Andrey Kuzkin stick out of the ground after burying himself headfirst in Hamburg, Germany, 29 November 2015. The performance 'The phenomenon of nature or 99 landscapes with trees' is part of the Nordwind Festival.
Photo by Daniel Reinhardt
"The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2" held on to its first-place spot in its second weekend in theaters, earning $51.6 million to top "The Good Dinosaur" and "Creed," which both debuted Wednesday, according to Rentrak estimates on Sunday.
Audiences had their pick of genres over the crowded Thanksgiving weekend. Disney and Pixar's animated dinosaur movie took second place, bringing in $39.2 million Friday through Sunday, while "Creed," a new entry into the Rocky Balboa canon, came in third with $30.1 million.
James Bond film "Spectre," with $12.8 million, and "The Peanuts Movie," with $9.7 million, rounded out the top five.
"Victor Frankenstein" was not so lucky. The $40 million revival of Mary Shelley's monster classic, starring James McAvoy and Daniel Radcliffe, proved lifeless in theaters, earning just $2.35 million from Friday to Sunday.
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Rentrak. Where available, the latest international numbers for Friday through Sunday are also included. Final domestic figures will be released Monday.
1."The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2," $51.6 million ($62 million international).
2."The Good Dinosaur," $39.2 million ($28.7 million international).
3."Creed," $30.1 million ($2.3 million international).
4."Spectre," $12.8 million ($30.4 million international).
5."The Peanuts Movie," $9.7 million.
6."The Night Before," $8.2 million.
7."The Secret In Their Eyes," $4.5 million.
8."Spotlight," $4.5 million.
9."Brooklyn," $3.8 million.
10."The Martian," $3.3 million ($51.4 million international).
A long-tailed macaque feeds a juvenile at the Pra Prang Sam Yot temple before the annual Monkey Buffet Festival in Lopburi, north of Bangkok November 29, 2015. The festival provides food and drinks to the local monkey population, which numbers more than 2,000, to thank them for drawing tourists to the town.
Photo by Jorge Silva
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