• Early in his career, Broadway musical star Ben Vereen went on the road, so he sublet his apartment to a friend who neglected to pay the rent. The landlord changed the locks to Mr. Vereen's apartment, making him officially homeless. For a while, Mr. Vereen climbed the fire escape, entered the window, and slept in his own bed at night, leaving by the window during the day so he wouldn't run into his landlord.
• While Lillian Nordica was singing in Wagner's Rienzi, several women members of the chorus walked on stage carrying alcohol torches. One woman accidentally tipped her torch, and some alcohol fell to the floor and started burning. Still singing, Ms. Nordica walked over to the flame, stepped on it, and put it out - without missing a note.
• Jazz pianist Erroll Garner used to carry a Manhattan telephone directory with him on tour. The standard piano bench wasn't high enough for Mr. Garner, but when he placed the Manhattan telephone directory on top of the piano bench, the height was just right.
• During World War II, soprano Kirsten Flagstad was in Norway so she could be with her husband. A friend asked her what she would do if the Nazis asked her to sing. She replied, "I am not going to sing for them. You know a singer can always be ill."
• Bluesman Robert Johnson was very successful with women. He simply asked them for he wanted: "Can I go home with you? Can I be with you?" Many of them said yes.
Recordings
• James Todd Smith, aka LL Cool J, knew from an early age that he wanted a record deal. When James was 11 years old, his grandfather bought him a set of turntables, a microphone, two speakers, and a mixer - everything James needed to develop into LL Cool J. And when he started making homemade tapes and sending them to record companies, his mother bought him a drum machine so he could make better tapes. The gifts and James' hard work paid off. Rick Rubin, co-creator of Def Jam Records, heard and liked the tape and met James, who told the white Jewish American, "Yo! I thought you were black!" Of course, James didn't care whether Rick was black or white, Jewish or non-Jewish. He said, "I didn't care if Rick Rubin was purple and worshipped penguins. He could have been Ronald McDonald, as long as I got a record deal."
• Cleveland-based production team the Kickdrums is made up of two people: Matt Penttila and Alex Fitts. They have worked hard, and such luminaries as 50 Cent have used their beats. At times, they have gone to New York with lots of self-produced CDs, and they have stood outside record companies handing out CDs to anyone who passed by, hoping to get one of their CDs into the hands of someone in A&R (Artists and Repertoire). Of course, many people who get a CD are not in A&R. Mr. Penttila says, "If they give you a weird look, then you know it's a janitor." Still, says Mr. Fitts, "You start with the guys you can get to. It benefits both sides, because then the low-level A&Rs take it to their boss, and it's like, 'I discovered this new talent.' Eventually, you get a call from a big-time A&R about the CD you gave somebody else."
Sierra Leonean Creole or Krio is an English-based creole language that is lingua franca and de facto national language spoken throughout the West African nation of Sierra Leone. Krio is spoken by 87% of Sierra Leone's population and unites the different ethnic groups in the country, especially in their trade and social interaction with each other. Krio is the primary language of communication among Sierra Leoneans at home and abroad. The language is native to the Sierra Leone Creole people or Krios, (a community of about 300,000 descendants of freed slaves from the West Indies, United States and the British Empire), and is spoken as a second language by millions of other Sierra Leoneans belonging to the country's indigenous tribes. English is Sierra Leone's official language, while Krio, despite its common use throughout the country, has no official status.
The Krio language is an offshoot of the languages and variations of English brought by the Nova Scotian Settlers from North America, Maroons from Jamaica, and the numerous liberated African slaves who settled in Sierra Leone.
Krio is distinct from a pidgin as it is a language in its own right, with fixed grammatical structures and rules. Krio also draws from other European languages, like Portuguese and French, e.g. the Krio word gentri/gentree, which means wealth or to acquire wealth, is derived from the Old French word 'gentry', and the Krio word pikin, which means 'child', indirectly comes from the Portuguese word pequeno meaning 'small' and often used to mean children in Portuguese.
Source
Billy in Cypress U$A was first, and correct, with:
Sierra Leone
Deborah, the Master Gardener, replied:
Sierra Leone. Another new fact for my trivia-obsessed brain.
Warming up to close to the century mark this weekend…should be interesting, if not downright hot. A little June Gloom would be welcome.
Dave responded:
Sierra Leone. Interesting reading about the American and British effect on that nation. Nearby Liberia was settled by free born US blacks and freed slaves, who either were forcibly removed from the US or voluntarily fled racial prejudice. But Sierra Leone was a haven not only for thousands of US slaves liberated by the British during the revolution, but later by West Indian slaves, slaves who had settled in Canada and Britain, and African slaves liberated in the Atlantic Ocean by the British Navy after the international slave trade was outlawed. Of course people from the Western Hemisphere sometimes clashed with the people who had always lived in the are.
Dave in Tucson wrote:
Well, after seeing yesterday's answer I did slap my forehead
(metaphorically). Answer to today's question is "damned if I know".
Cal in Vermont said:
Sierra Leone.
Daniel in The City answered:
Sierra Leone
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~~~~~
CBS begins the night with a RERUN'NCIS: The Expendable One', followed by a RERUN'NCIS: The 3rd One', then '48 Hours'.
NBC opens the night with the movie 'Minions', followed by an old 'SNL' (from 09/30/17) with Ryan Gosling hosting, music by Jay-Z.
Of course, 'SNL' is a RERUN (from 02/01/20) with JJ Watts hosting, music by Luke Combs.
ABC starts the night with a RERUN'America's So-Called Funniest Home Videos', follwoed by a RERUN'Shark Tank', then a RERUN'The Good Doctor'.
The CW offers some local crap and some old '2½ Men'.
Faux fills the night with LIVE'MLS Soccer', then pads the left coast with local crap.
MY recycles an old 'Major Crimes', followed by another old 'Major Crimes'.
A&E has 'Jeff Dunham: Talking Heads', 'Chris Farley: Anything For A Laugh', and 'Jeff Foxworthy: Stand-Up Guy'.
AMC offers the movie 'Clear & Present Danger', followed by the movie 'Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit'.
BBC -
[6:00AM] PLANET EARTH: THE BLUE PLANET - The Blue Planet
[7:00AM] PLANET EARTH: THE BLUE PLANET - The Deep
[8:00AM] PLANET EARTH: THE BLUE PLANET - The Open Ocean
[9:00AM] PLANET EARTH: THE BLUE PLANET - Frozen Seas
[10:00AM] PLANET EARTH: THE BLUE PLANET - Seasonal Seas
[11:00AM] PLANET EARTH: THE BLUE PLANET - Coral Seas
[12:00PM] PLANET EARTH: THE BLUE PLANET - Tidal Seas
[1:00PM] PLANET EARTH: THE BLUE PLANET - Coasts
[2:00PM] PLANET EARTH: THE BLUE PLANET - The Blue Planet
[3:00PM] PLANET EARTH: THE BLUE PLANET - The Deep
[4:00PM] PLANET EARTH: THE BLUE PLANET - The Open Ocean
[5:00PM] PLANET EARTH: THE BLUE PLANET - Frozen Seas
[6:00PM] PLANET EARTH: AFRICA - Kalahari
[7:00PM] PLANET EARTH: AFRICA - Savannah
[8:00PM] PLANET EARTH: AFRICA - Congo
[9:00PM] PLANET EARTH: AFRICA - Cape
[10:00PM] PLANET EARTH: AFRICA - Sahara
[11:00PM] PLANET EARTH: AFRICA - Kalahari
[12:00AM] PLANET EARTH: AFRICA - Savannah
[1:00AM] PLANET EARTH: AFRICA - Congo
[2:00AM] PLANET EARTH: AFRICA - Cape
[3:00AM] PLANET EARTH: AFRICA - Sahara
[4:00AM] PLANET EARTH: AFRICA - The Future
[5:00AM] PLANET EARTH: THE MAKING OF AFRICA (ALL TIMES ET)
Bravo has the movie 'Definitely, Maybe', followed by the movie 'The Holiday', then the movie 'The Holiday', again.
Comedy Central has the movie 'Men In Black', followed by the movie 'Men In Black II', then the movie 'Men In Black III'.
FX has the movie 'Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle', followed by the movie'The Fate Of The Furious'.
History has 'The UnXplained', another 'The UnXplained', followed by a FRESH'The UnXplained', then a FRESH'Unidentified: Inside America's UFO Investigation'.
IFC -
[6:00A] The Three Stooges - A-Plumbing We Will Go
[6:25A] The Three Stooges - Beer Barrel Polecats
[6:50A] The Three Stooges - Booby Dupes
[7:15A] Mystery Science Theater 3000 - Prince of Space
[9:30A] Bad Words
[11:30A] Grown Ups
[1:45P] Old School
[3:45P] Punisher: War Zone
[6:00P] Zombieland
[8:00P] The Expendables
[10:15P] The Expendables 2
[12:30A] The Expendables
[2:45A] The Expendables 2
[5:00A] The Three Stooges - A-Plumbing We Will Go
[5:25A] The Three Stooges - Beer Barrel Polecats
[5:50A] The Three Stooges - Booby Dupes (ALL TIMES ET)
Sundance -
[6:00am] the andy griffith show
[6:30am] the andy griffith show
[7:00am] the andy griffith show
[7:30am] the andy griffith show
[8:00am] the andy griffith show
[8:30am] the andy griffith show
[9:00am] 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] hogan's heroes
[6:00pm] hogan's heroes
[6:30pm] crocodile dundee ii
[9:00pm] batman
[12:00am] batman returns
[3:00am] crocodile dundee ii
[5:30am] the andy griffith show (ALL TIMES ET)
SyFy has the movie 'Edge Of Tomorrow', followed by the movie 'Clash Of The Titans'.
The USC School of Cinematic Arts will remove an exhibit devoted to actor John Wayne, a USC student and football player in the 1920s, after months of insistence from students denouncing the Hollywood star's on-the-record racism and the portrayal of Indigenous Americans in many of his films.
The removal was announced today by Evan Hughes, the school's Assistant Dean of Diversity & Inclusion.
The exhibit's material - posters, movie memorabilia, personal items - will now be housed in the school's Cinematic Arts Library for research and scholarship, along with other Hollywood artifacts.
The Wayne Exhibit was installed in 2012. Students and alumni began protesting the exhibit last October, and in December school officials attempted to transform the display with a more expansive approach to examining cinema's depiction of the American West. A large case of the exhibit was removed, and displays were expanded to include elements of Indigenous filmmaking, feminism and critical race theory, according to the school's Daily Trojan newspaper.
The scandal that has become known as "Sharpiegate" damaged NOAA's credibility and may have undercut public trust in the agency's apolitical weather forecasting, Commerce Department Inspector General Peggy Gustafson said in a long-awaited report released yesterday.
"Instead of focusing on NOAA's successful hurricane forecast, the Department unnecessarily rebuked [National Weather Service] forecasters for issuing a public safety message about Hurricane Dorian in response to public inquiries-that is, for doing their jobs," the report said.
The report details a series of incidents that snowballed over the course of a week after President Trump (R-Liar) falsely declared in September of 2019 that Hurricane Dorian was set to hit Alabama.
The National Weather Service's Birmingham office corrected the president's statement, leading NOAA to issue a statement undermining its own scientists at the behest of the White House and Commerce's political officials.
The report comes after a long political back-and-forth with Capitol Hill and after Gustafson, an Obama appointee, said in an unusual statement last week that Commerce officials were "claiming amorphous and generalized privileges, which effectively prevent us from publicly releasing the evaluation that is otherwise ready for release."
A top writer for Fox Rupert's "News" host Tucker Carlson (R-Sock Puppet) has resigned after the discovery of an online forum in which he reportedly used a pseudonym to make racist, sexist and other offensive remarks.
CNN Business reported that Tucker Carlson Tonight writer Blake Neff had been posting on the online forum even in recent weeks, using racial stereotypes in his commentary. According to CNN Business, when Neff was contacted for comment Thursday, he referred them to a Fox News spokesperson, who told them on Friday morning that he had resigned. The network confirmed his departure to Deadline.
Neff previously has worked for The Hill and The Daily Caller, the latter a conservative news site that Carlson helped start in 2010. In an interview with Dartmouth's alumni magazine this month, Neff said of his work for Carlson's show, "Anything he's reading off the teleprompter, the first draft was written by me."
He joined the staff of Tucker Carlson Tonight shortly after it launched in November 2016, according to the magazine.
The Satanic Temple has threatened to sue Mississippi over plans to include the phrase "In God We Trust" on its flag.
In a letter addressed to state attorney general Lynn Fitch the Temple argued that not all Mississippians were represented by the phrase, which is the US national motto.
Last week politicians approved proposals to retire the 1894 Mississippi state flag, which had been adorned with the Confederate battle emblem, amid nationwide demonstrations against institutionalised racism.
Under the measure passed last week, governor Tate Reeves compelled state authorities to include the "In God We Trust" message in any new design. A commission is being set up to create that new version.
The Satanic Temple, which welcomed the decision to scrap the old flag, complained that the phrase "In God We Trust" was also divisive.
More than three months after President Trump (R-Oaf) stood in front of stacked boxes of medical supplies and promised that "America will be fully prepared for any of the future outbreaks," the federal government still has shortfalls of personal protective equipment (PPE) for health care workers, according to an internal administration document obtained by Yahoo News.
The document, which includes specific numbers of supplies, shows that despite some progress in recent months, the federal government is still unable to provide enough N95 respirator masks, gloves and hospital gowns, among other categories of PPE. Perhaps the most disheartening item on the list is human remains pouches, or body bags.
The July 8 brief prepared for senior leadership by the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Health and Human Services and the Federal Emergency Management Agency details the quantity of supplies requested and received by state, local and tribal authorities. The brief also gives a current inventory of supplies in the National Strategic Stockpile, a federal repository of critical medical supplies.
The National Strategic Stockpile has been a source of controversy since the early days of the coronavirus outbreak in the United States. The president's son-in-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner, was widely criticized when he asserted at the beginning of April that "it's supposed to be our stockpile. It's not supposed to be states' stockpiles that they then use."
The Trump administration has blamed the Obama administration for leaving the stockpile with low inventory. Trump at one point claimed his administration was left with no ventilators; in fact, there were 16,600.
President Donald Trump (R-Failure) on Thursday publicly criticized Dr. Anthony Fauci, saying that one of the nation's top infectious disease experts "has made a lot of mistakes."
In an interview with Fox Rupert "News"' Sean Hannity (R-Tokyo Rose), Trump was asked what he makes of hotspots like Texas and Florida and of some of Fauci's latest comments, though Hannity didn't specify which remarks he was referring to.
"Dr. Fauci is a nice man, but he's made a lot of mistakes," Trump said.
"A lot of them said don't wear a mask, don't wear a mask," the president added. "Now they are saying wear a mask. A lot of mistakes were made, a lot of mistakes."
"We have cases all over the place. Most of the cases immediately get better, they are people, young people, they have sniffles and two days later they are fine and they are not sick to start," Trump said.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease expert, said Friday he has not briefed President Donald Trump (R-Inept) in at least two months and not seen him in person at the White House since June 2, despite a coronavirus resurgence that has strained hospitals and led several states to pause reopenings.
Fauci told the Financial Times he was "sure" his messages were sent to the president even though the two have not been in close contact in the past several weeks.
The comments from the Trump administration's director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases came as Trump has been critical of Fauci and spoken openly about issues on which they disagree.
Also in the FT interview, Fauci said Trump was incorrect in claiming 99% of coronavirus cases were "harmless" and may have conflated some statistics.
"I'm trying to figure out where the president got that number," Fauci said. "What I think happened is that someone told him that the general mortality is about 1%. And he interpreted, therefore, that 99% is not a problem, when that's obviously not the case."
President Tayyip Erdogan declared Istanbul's Hagia Sophia a mosque on Friday with the first Muslim prayers to begin in two weeks, after a top court ruled the ancient building's conversion to a museum by modern Turkey's founding statesman was illegal.
Erdogan spoke on Friday just hours after the court ruling was published, brushing aside international warnings not to change the status of the nearly 1,500-year-old monument that is revered by Christians and Muslims alike.
The United States, Russia and church leaders were among those to express concern about changing the status of the UNESCO World Heritage Site, a focal point of both the Christian Byzantine and Muslim Ottoman empires and now one of the most visited monuments in Turkey.
Erdogan has sought to shift Islam into the mainstream of Turkish politics in his 17 years at the helm. He has long floated restoring the mosque status of the sixth-century building, which was converted into a museum in the early days of the modern secular Turkish state under Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.
By reversing one of Ataturk's most symbolic steps, which underlined the former leader's commitment to a secular republic, Erdogan has capped his own project to restore Islam in public life, said Soner Cagaptay, director of the Turkish Research Program at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
There's a major change happening in the Arctic. Dark waters are blooming with algae, as sunlight floods spaces long obscured by sheets of ice.
Over the past two decades, there's been a 57 percent increase in phytoplankton in the Arctic ocean, an analysis by researchers from Stanford University has revealed.
That's outpaced scientist's expectations, and it's changing the way the ocean stores carbon, as well as sucking up resources needed for the rest of the ecosystem. And no one's sure what it means.
But according to the researchers, from around 2009, the rate at which new open water was being exposed dropped off significantly.
By all accounts, this should have been followed by a similar decline in greenery. After all, no matter how much the Sun shines, population numbers should taper off as the amount of available nitrogen and other essential elements gets used up.
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