Madagascar, and previously known as the Malagasy Republic, is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately 400 kilometres (250 miles) off the coast of East Africa. At 592,800 square kilometres (228,900 sq mi) Madagascar is the world's 2nd largest island country. The nation comprises the island of Madagascar (the fourth- largest island in the world) and numerous smaller peripheral islands. Following the prehistoric breakup of the supercontinent Gondwana, Madagascar split from the Indian subcontinent around 88 million years ago, allowing native plants and animals to evolve in relative isolation. Consequently, Madagascar is a biodiversity hotspot; over 90% of its wildlife is found nowhere else on Earth. The island's diverse ecosystems and unique wildlife are threatened by the encroachment of the rapidly growing human population and other environmental threats.
Madagascar's natural resources include a variety of unprocessed agricultural and mineral resources. Agriculture (including the growing of raffia), fishing and forestry are mainstays of the economy. Madagascar is the world's principal supplier of vanilla, cloves and ylang-ylang. Madagascar supplies 80% of the world's natural vanilla. Other key agricultural resources include coffee, lychees and shrimp. Key mineral resources include various types of precious and semi-precious stones, and Madagascar currently provides half of the world's supply of sapphires, which were discovered near Ilakaka in the late 1990s.
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Dave responded:
Madagascar. Native to Mexico the Vanilla plantiflolia orchard doesn't naturally develop its vanilla pods without a native bee to pollinate the flower. But the flowers can be pollinated by hand, and Madagascar's impoverished population works cheap. So the labor intensive vanilla beans are grown and harvested there.
Cal in Vermont replied:
Madagascar. It is now a blood crop, thanks to a price boom. Which is a shame because I do my level best to eat 80% of the the worlds supply of vanilla. Viva Ben and Jerry!
mj wrote:
I think it ships from Tahiti
But I think Bora Bora might actually be the production island.
Deborah responded:
Okay, I'm pretty sure I know this: Madagascar. Vanilla comes from a beautiful orchid. That much I'm sure of.
Lovely sunrise, brilliant sky, a harbinger of the wet weather to come. TGIF!
Jim from CA, retired to ID, said:
Madagascar supplies 80-85% of the world's natural vanilla.
Rosemary in Columbus wrote:
Madagascar
Billy in Cypress U$A answered:
Madagascar
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~~~~~
Info: "Your favorite songs of Los Ramones in Spanglish!"
Hilltop, a fan, wrote this: "Mexicans singing and playing the power cords of the Ramones? What's not to like! Johnny Ramone would be proud of the dude playing the Hallmark lead guitar. Favorite track: La Cocina Mexicana [Mexican Cuisine]."
"La Cocina Mexicana" ["Mexican Cuisine"] is otherwise known as "Commando."
Price: Name Your Own Price (Includes FREE) for 11-track album
• Tarina Tarantino creates fashionable jewelry and is the head of her own company. Her hair is also fashionable: hot pink. She says, "I got married with pink hair. I had two babies with pink hair. And I'll be an old lady with pink hair." To make her particular color of hot pink, her hair stylist mixes four shades of colors. Why hot pink? She explains that she "wanted to experience a way of living through color." Once, a woman in a coffee shop said to her, "You must have a very tolerant boss to allow you to come to work with pink hair." Ms. Tarantino replied, "Actually, my boss has the same color hair." As the head of her company, she has to manage a staff of design assistants and factory workers. One young employee was unhappy with her performance review, so she asked Ms. Tarantino to speak to her mother. Ms. Tarantino replied, "Your mother doesn't work here." Her office and manufacturing facility is called the Sparkle Factory, and in 2011 it moved to another building on which the graffiti artist Banksy had received permission to paint an exterior wall. He painted a picture of a girl on a swing - the word "Parking" had been turned into "Park." Ms. Tarantino got her big break when actress Cameron Diaz wore a Tarantino bracelet to the 2002 Oscars. These days, Ms. Tarantino believes, movie stars all have consultants who tell them what to wear. These days, she says, her own big break "would never happen."
• Like many writers, Carl Sandburg had a great wealth of experience from his childhood and his many jobs to draw upon for inspiration. As a young boy, he was arrested for skinny-dipping in a neighborhood pond. His parents thought that the arrest was silly; they had seen Carl naked when he was born, and they saw him naked whenever he took a bath in a laundry tub. Young Carl once got a summer job washing bottles from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. in a bottling works. (This was before modern child-labor laws.) He was allowed to drink as much soda pop as he wanted, and he drank so much that he got diarrhea and lost his job. For a while, he rode the rails as a hobo. One night he and four other hoboes tried to sleep in an empty boxcar, but it was so cold that they gave up and walked to a jail where a kind sheriff let them sleep on the floor of a cell. When Carl attended college, he had a job as a firefighter. His professors knew that whenever the town's fire whistle blew, Carl had to leave class and fight a fire.
• As a beginning cartoonist, Ted Rall wanted people to see his art. After meeting graffiti artist Keith Haring, he thought, "He has the approach." What is the approach? Instead of working to please editors, who are pleased by generic work, simply get your art in front of the people. Therefore, Ted took his cartoons, went to the bank he hated working at, and ran off 700 copies very early in the morning on the bank's Xerox machine. Then he and his girlfriend walked through Broadway, Harlem, and Times Square and pasted the cartoons wherever they could. The walk and pasting took four hours and covered seven miles. He put his PO address on the cartoons and got fan mail - and he got letters from editors who wrote, "I was visiting New York. I saw your cartoon on the wall and ripped it down. I was wondering if you'd mind if we ran your cartoons." Ted quit the bank job he hated and became a professional cartoonist.
Marine layer rolled in and didn't completely burn-off, followed by a foggy-foggy night.
Tonight, Saturday:
CBS begins the night with a RERUN'FBI', followed by a RERUN'NCIS: The 3rd One', then '48 Hours'.
NBC fills the night with LIVE'2020 NHL All-Star Game', followed, on the left coast by a LIVE'SNL', then 'Dateline'.
'SNL' is FRESH with Adam Driver hosting, music by Halsey.
ABC fills the night with LIVE 'NBA Basketball', then pads the left coast with local crap and maybe 'Nightline In Prime'.
The CW offers some local crap and some '2½ Men'.
Faux fills the night with FRESH'Flirty Dancing'.
MY recycles an old 'Major Crimes', followed by another old 'Major Crimes'.
A&E has 'Live PD', followed by a FRESH'Live PD: Rewind', then a FRESH'Live PD'.
AMC offers the movie 'Elysium', followed by a FRESH'Seven Worlds, One Planet - North America', and the movie 'Elysium', again.
BBC -
[6:00AM] ATTENBOROUGH AND THE GIANT ELEPHANT
[7:00AM] GREAT BEAR STAKEOUT - Episode 1
[8:00AM] GREAT BEAR STAKEOUT - Episode 2
[9:00AM] PLANET EARTH: THE BEST OF THE HUNT
[11:00AM] WILD WEST - Desert Heartlands
[12:00PM] WILD WEST - The High Country
[1:00PM] WILD WEST - Restless Shores
[2:00PM] PLANET EARTH - From Pole To Pole
[3:00PM] PLANET EARTH - Mountains
[4:00PM] PLANET EARTH - Fresh Water
[5:00PM] PLANET EARTH - Great Plains
[6:00PM] PLANET EARTH - Jungles
[7:00PM] PLANET EARTH - Seasonal Forests
[8:00PM] PLANET EARTH - Ocean Deep
[9:00PM] SEVEN WORLDS, ONE PLANET - North America
[10:30PM] PLANET EARTH - From Pole To Pole
[11:30PM] PLANET EARTH - Mountains
[12:30AM] SEVEN WORLDS, ONE PLANET - North America
[2:00AM] PLANET EARTH - Fresh Water
[3:00AM] PLANET EARTH - Great Plains
[4:00AM] PLANET EARTH - Jungles
[5:00AM] PLANET EARTH - Seasonal Forests (ALL TIMES EST)
Bravo has the movie 'Pretty Woman', followed by the movie 'Pretty Woman', again.
Comedy Central has the movie 'Dumb & Dumber', followed by the movie 'Joe Dirt', then the movie 'Hot Tub Time Machine'.
FX has the movie 'Spider-Man: Homecoming', followed by the movie 'Kingsman: The Secret Service'.
History has 'UFOs: Dangerous Encounters Exposed', followed by the FRESH'UFOs: Top Secret Evidence Revealed', then a FRESH'Ancient Aliens'.
IFC -
[7:05A] Mystery Science Theater 3000 - The Beast of Yucca Flats
[9:15A] Monty Python's Flying Circus - The Buzz Aldrin Show
[9:45A] Monty Python's Flying Circus - Deja Vu
[10:15A] Monty Python's Flying Circus - It's a Living
[10:45A] Monty Python's Flying Circus - The Attilla the Hun Show
[11:30A] Monty Python's Flying Circus - How to Recognize Different Parts of the Body
[12:00P] The Poseidon Adventure
[2:30P] K-9: P.I.
[4:30P] K-9
[7:00P] Ace Ventura: Pet Detective
[9:00P] Seven Worlds, One Planet - South America
[10:30P] Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls
[12:30A] Ace Ventura: Pet Detective
[2:30A] Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls
[4:30A] Pee-wee's Playhouse - Party
[5:00A] Pee-wee's Playhouse - Open House
[5:30A] Pee-wee's Playhouse - Puppy in the Playhouse (ALL TIMES EST)
Sundance -
[6:00am] The Andy Griffith Show
[6:35am] The Andy Griffith Show
[7:10am] The Andy Griffith Show
[7:45am] The Andy Griffith Show
[8:20am] The Andy Griffith Show
[8:55am] The Andy Griffith Show
[9:30am] The Andy Griffith Show
[10:00am] The Andy Griffith Show
[10:30am] The Andy Griffith Show
[11:00am] Hogan's Heroes
[11:30am] Hogan's Heroes
[12:00pm] Hogan's Heroes
[12:30pm] Hogan's Heroes
[1:00pm] Hogan's Heroes
[1:30pm] Hogan's Heroes
[2:00pm] Hogan's Heroes
[2:30pm] Hogan's Heroes
[3:00pm] Hogan's Heroes
[3:30pm] Hogan's Heroes
[4:00pm] Hogan's Heroes
[4:30pm] Hogan's Heroes
[5:00pm] Hogan's Heroes
[5:30pm] The Patriot
[9:00pm] Seven Worlds, One Planet - North America
[10:30pm] Clear and Present Danger
[1:30am] Basic Instinct
[4:30am] Love Lust - Love Lust & Chocolate
[4:45am] Love Lust - Love Lust & Holiday Feasts
[5:00am] Law & Order (ALL TIMES EST)
SyFy has the movie 'GI Joe: Resolute', followed by the movie 'The Hitman's Bodyguard'.
30 years after last appearing as squad leader Peter Venkman in 1989's Ghostbusters 2, Bill Murray is set to reprise his beloved role in the upcoming sequel Ghostbusters: Afterlife. The new movie stars Paul Rudd as a science teacher whose students find themselves in the middle of a ghostbusting mystery.
Though Murray, 69, made a cameo in the 2016 all-women Ghostbusters, he will be back as his parapsychologist character in the new movie directed by Jason Reitman, the son of original director Ivan Reitman.
His return was confirmed in a new interview with Vanity Fair, as were Dan Aykroyd and Ernie Hudson's returns as Ray Stantz and Winston Zeddemore.
But the trio will have to go on without their fourth member, the late Harold Ramis who died in 2014 at 69.
Set 30 years after ghost sightings ended, the story follows Callie (The Leftovers' Carrie Coon), a financially strapped mother who moves her two children - Phoebe (Captain Marvel's Mckenna Grace) and Trevor (Stranger Things' Finn Wolfhard) to small-town Oklahoma, and an abandoned farmhouse left behind by her dead father.
Dolly Parton just smashed another stereotype, having created the latest viral meme at 74.
The singer/songwriter's Twitter account is the source of an image depicting the four different photos Parton would use on four different social media channels: LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram and Tinder. She's, of course, more buttoned up in the pic for the professional networking site LinkedIn and dressed as a Playboy bunny in the pic for the dating site. She captioned it, "Get you a woman who can do it all," punctuated with a wink emoji.
But there is no question that it was one of the biggest things on the internet in the past few days, a week that included a historic impeachment trial, the development of a potential global health crisis and many more heavy news stories.
Other celebrities took the hint and contributed their own editions. Her goddaughter, Miley Cyrus, gave Parton credit for "shouting out platforms she don't even use" in her entry.
Disney's Bambi is returning to the screen but this time he will roam a digitally created photorealistic forest and interact with animals that have been brought to "live action" cinema via a hard-drive not a soundstage.
Following in pixel paw-prints of The Jungle Book and The Lion King, the next Disney classic from the hand-drawn animation era to get a 21st Century revamp will be the 1942 tearjerker about a fawn finding his way in a hard-knock world.
The Farewell team of Chris Weitz, Paul Weitz and Andrew Miano will produce under the banner of Depth of Field, their production company. Geneva Robertson-Dworet (Captain Marvel) and Lindsey Beer (Sierra Burgess Is a Loser) are on board to write the script that will include a rabbi named Thumper, a skunk called Flower, and all the other denizens of the FDR era classic.
Depth of Field is also in Disney revival mode for Pinocchio, the Robert Zemeckis take on the beloved tale of wooden puppet who becomes a real boy with the help of the Blue Fairy. That project, like Guy Ritchie's Aladdin, will be a hybrid of live-action performances and real-world sets that interact with digitally invented characters.
Expect the debate to continue with the success of the approach. Jon Favreau's The Lion King brought back $1.66 billion in global box office last year as a follow-up to his The Jungle Book in 2016 which piled up $966 million in worldwide box office.
Jordan Belfort, the pump-and-dump scammer immortalized in Martin Scorsese's "The Wolf of Wall Street," said in a lawsuit Thursday that he was victimized by a far grander scam perpetrated by the film's producers.
Belfort filed a $300 million fraud lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court against Red Granite Pictures and its CEO, Riza Aziz, saying he had no idea they financed the film with millions of dollars stolen from the Malaysian government.
Aziz is currently facing corruption charges in Malaysia for allegedly embezzling $248 million from 1MDB, a state-run development fund. Aziz's stepfather, Najib Razak, was ousted as prime minister in the wake of the alleged theft of some $4.5 billion from the fund.
Belfort - who served 22 months in prison after bilking investors out of a comparatively modest $200 million in the early 1990s - alleges that the 1MDB scandal has tainted the rights to his story. Belfort sold Red Granite the rights to his memoir and the sequel, "Catching the Wolf of Wall Street." But in the wake of the 1MDB scandal, the suit contends that the company is no longer able to fully capitalize on those rights.
According to the suit, Belfort believed Aziz when he said that Red Granite's money came from legitimate sources, including high-net worth individuals and Goldman Sachs.
Shouts, glares and unprintable words: US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo (R-Dominionist) lost his temper at a journalist after she questioned him on the administration's stance on Ukraine, a country at the heart of President Donald Trump (R-Grifter)'s impeachment trial.
It began when Pompeo gave an early morning interview to NPR radio.
Much of the discussion dealt with Iran, but journalist Mary Louise Kelly closed by asking Pompeo about Ukraine.
But the story didn't end there, and Kelly related the rest in an NPR broadcast on Friday evening.
A staffer then invited Kelly to Pompeo's private living room, without her recorder.
On the first day of opening arguments in President Donald Trump (R-Compromised)'s impeachment trial, Americans had little faith in the Senate's capacity to conduct a fair trial, new Insider polling has found.
For the past several months, Insider has been conducting a series of SurveyMonkey Audience polls to gauge Americans' opinions on the ongoing impeachment proceedings.
On January 22, Insider surveyed 1,070 Americans to gauge their opinions on the impeachment trial so far. We asked, "Do you trust the U.S. Sentate to run a fair impeachment trial?"
Out of all respondents, just 23% said they thought the Senate would conduct a fair trial:
US President Donald Trump (R-Puppet) unveiled the logo of Space Force on Friday, attracting critics who said America's newest military branch had boldly gone where Star Trek went before.
With a central symbol resembling an arrowhead, ringed by an orbiting object and set to a starry backdrop, many users argued the design was pilfered from the famous science fiction franchise.
It drew immediate mockery among social media users.
"Should've been consulting with Gene Roddenberry's lawyers," said the popular "Pourmecoffee" account, referring to the late screenwriter and producer of Star Trek's original series and its first spin-off, "The Next Generation."
The logo bears an uncanny resemblance to the insignia of Starfleet -- the peacekeeping and exploration force of the United Federation of Planets alliance, which is headquartered on Earth whose adversaries include Klingons and Romulans.
A sprawling, stone monument decorated with swirls, circular patterns and godly fangs has been hiding in a remote jungle in northern Peru for around 2,000 years.
Though the locals knew of the monolith's existence - and a few explorers who visited the region had noted the structure - it wasn't until recently that researchers were able to investigate it in-depth. And now, they've created a highly detailed 3D scan of the stunning structure.
The images and patterns are so abstract and ornate, they are hard to describe in words. However, the researchers said the two fangs engraved into the stone come from a deity that archaeologists call a "feline feathered figure."
Setting off from the town of Leymebamba, "we hiked, ran, rode horses through jungles from 6,000 feet [1,800 meters] up to 13,000 feet [4,000 m] to this really remote village where literally nobody goes," said Jason Kleinhenz, an application engineer at Exact Metrology, who scanned the monolith. (The team brought school supplies to the village, something that is hard for local people to acquire given the remote location. Members of the team have engaged in humanitarian work in the area for years.)
The team wanted to create a detailed record using an Artec 3D scanner, particularly because the monolith's carvings are in danger of being lost due to erosion from all the rain pelting the structure's surfaces. "We don't know if it's going to survive," said Daniel Fernandez-Davila, an archaeologist who had been traveling to the area for 21 years to deliver supplies.
The Top 20 Global Concert Tours ranks artists by average box office gross per city and includes the average ticket price for shows Worldwide. The list is based on data provided to the trade publication Pollstar by concert promoters and venue managers. Week of January 22, 2020 :
1. Elton John; $3,239,343; $135.83.
2. Phil Collins; $2,129,359; $141.86.
3. Andrea Bocelli; $2,026,131; $158.40.
4. Post Malone; $2,021,904; $118.61.
5. Guns N' Roses; $2,003,558; $125.36.
6. Celine Dion; $1,790,539; $130.09.
7. Little Mix; $1,575,796; $58.83.
8. Cher; $1,572,690; $126.21.
9. André Rieu; $1,553,998; $87.28.
10. Jonas Brothers; $1,534,657; $101.97.
11. Tool; $1,514,862; $105.92.
12. Ariana Grande; $1,499,550; $100.54.
13. Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band; $1,418,694; $118.43.
14. Eric Church; $1,404,961; $85.90.
15. Michael Bublé; $1,397,947; $112.15.
16. John Mayer; $1,295,958; $78.24.
17. Marc Anthony; $1,148,820; $106.39.
18. Shawn Mendes; $1,117,429; $76.17.
19. Bad Bunny; $1,069,129; $87.70.
20. Carrie Underwood; $1,030,318; $74.60.
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US President Donald Trump (R-Puppet) unveiled the logo of Space Force on Friday, attracting critics who said America's newest military branch had boldly gone where Star Trek went before.
