• When comic writer H. Allen Smith was a youth attending parochial school, he did well in some subjects, but was terrible at accounting. However, he discovered a novel way to improve his accounting grade. After discovering an unlocked window, he used to go to school after hours a few times a week and copy the accounting ledger of grade-A student Helen Weisenburger.
• Leo Rosten, author of The Joy of Yiddish, discovered early in his life an easy way to get out of doing his chores: All he had to do was pick up a book and read it. When he was reading something, his parents would do his chores for him rather than interrupt the learning process.
• Lord Byron was asked on an examination about Jesus’ miracle of turning water into wine. As other students wrote on and on about the miracle’s religious and spiritual meaning, Byron sat quietly for a long time, then wrote, “The water met its Master, and blushed.”
Fans
• While writing his young adult novel I Am the Cheese, the late Robert Cormier needed to include a telephone number. He worried about making up a telephone number because he knew that people would call it, and the person whose number it was might not like the calls. Therefore, he used his own telephone number. As soon as the novel was published, his telephone started ringing. Over the years, thousands of children and teenagers have called that number and talked to him. Fortunately, Mr. Cormier enjoyed talking to his readers. He acknowledged, “As a writer, I can’t afford to be a recluse or not involved with life.”
• After the publication of her best-selling book The Sea Around Us, environmentalist Rachel Carson became a major celebrity. During a lecture tour in the South, she stopped in a beauty parlor to have her hair done. Suddenly, her hair dryer stopped, and the proprietor of the beauty parlor said, “I hope you don’t mind, but there is someone who wants to meet you.” She did meet the person, with her still-wet hair up in curlers and a towel wrapped around her neck.
• The poet John Greenleaf Whittier disliked celebrity hunters. One day, he was in a store talking with the owner when a woman came in and asked if he could tell her where the famous poet John Greenleaf Whittier lived. Mr. Whittier pointed to his own house, which was across the street. Then he made sure to keep away from his house until the celebrity hunter had left the vicinity.
• Louisa May Alcott, author of Little Women, was a major celebrity in her day. Once, a woman told her, “If you ever come to Oshkosh, your feet will not be allowed to touch the ground — you will be carried in the arms of the people. Will you come?” Ms. Alcott replied, “Never.”
• R.L. Stine, author of the Goosebumps and Fear Street series, has many young fans who enjoy his writing. One nine-year-old boy got Mr. Stine’s autograph on a copy of Monster Blood. After receiving the autograph, the boy told Mr. Stine, “I’m the luckiest man on earth!”
Fathers
• Author Frank DeCaro was such a poor player in Little League baseball that his coach created a new position just for him: roving outfielder. He was stationed in the parking lot because no one could hit a ball that far. After the season was over, Frank told his father that he wanted to quit. Surprised, his father asked why he had begun to play in the first place, and Frank answered that he had done it for him, because he knew that his father wanted a son who played sports. That’s when his father said something wise and wonderful: “Don’t ever do anything just for me.”
Originally created in London, this hard felt hat with a rounded crown is also known as a billycock, bob hat, or bombín (Spanish). By what name is this hat known in the US?
Oktoberfest, the world's largest Volksfest (beer festival and travelling funfair) is held annually in Munich and runs from 16-to-18 days (except this year). Excluding this year, in what month does Oktoberfest begin?
The Oktoberfest is the world's largest Volksfest (beer festival and travelling funfair). Held annually in Munich, Bavaria, Germany, it is a 16- to 18-day folk festival running from mid- or late September to the first Sunday in October, with more than six million people from around the world attending the event every year. Locally, it is called d’Wiesn, after the colloquial name for the fairgrounds, Theresienwiese. The Oktoberfest is an important part of Bavarian culture, having been held since the year 1810. Other cities across the world also hold Oktoberfest celebrations that are modeled after the original Munich event.
During the event, large quantities of Oktoberfest Beer are consumed: during the 16-day festival in 2013, for example, 7.7 million litres (66,000 US bbl; 1,700,000 imp gal) were served. Visitors also enjoy numerous attractions, such as amusement rides, sidestalls, and games. There is also a wide variety of traditional foods available.
The Munich Oktoberfest originally took place in the 16-day period leading up to the first Sunday in October. In 1994, this longstanding schedule was modified in response to German reunification. As such, if the first Sunday in October falls on the 1st or the 2nd, then the festival would run until 3 October (German Unity Day). Thus, the festival now runs for 17 days when the first Sunday is 2 October and 18 days when it is 1 October. In 2010, the festival lasted until the first Monday in October (4 October), to mark the event's bicentennial.
Source
Mark. was first, and correct, with:
September.
Randall wrote:
September
Billy in Cypress U. $. A. said:
September
Alan J answered:
September.
Cal in Vermont replied:
First, some sad news. There will be no Oktoberfest this year due to the coronavirus. As a result, the family that has run the biggest venue for 83 years, with only a break so WW2 could be waged, has declined to continue from 2021 and forward. The good news is Oktoberfest will continue and attract 6 million people from mid to late September through the first Sunday in October. I cannot imagine the Galaxy-class hangovers that surely result from such an event. I bet people even die of them. My experience with ordinary World-Class hangovers was that I was afraid I was gonna die followed in due course by the fear that I wouldn't. But as they say: Ein zwei drei gsuffa!
Mac Mac responded:
September
zorch said:
Oktoberfest begins in September, because (as a friend from Munich told me) it is too wet to drink outdoors in Munich in October.
Dave wrote:
September, but it ends on the first Sunday in October, so that’s something. I’ve got a lot of German genes on both sides of the family but I didn’t know that. One set of my Mom’s great grandparents were born in Germany as was one set of my Dad’s great grandparents. My paternal grandma showed me the sea chest that her German grandfather kept his worldly possessions in during the Atlantic crossing. The chest is still in my Mom’s basement, so I suppose I will inherit it someday.
Deborah, the Master Gardener responded:
I’m going with a WAG, since I don’t know for certain: Oktoberfest begins in September. And if it doesn’t, it should.
Enjoying the delayed Tour de France and looking forward to riding bikes in Europe next year. I don’t remember a year that we haven’t at least spent a weekend at the beach or in the mountains, and this, so far, is that year. Meh.
Jacqueline replied:
Oktoberfest begins in September, the last day of the festival is on the first Sunday in October.
Jim from CA, retired to ID, said:
the majority of the 16 to 18 days of the Oktoberfest take place not in the eponymous October but in September.
Barbara, of Peppy Tech fame wrote:
The answer is September. I found this quote by Rick Steves about Oktoberfest:
"The partying gets turned up a notch every fall, when the city [Munich] celebrates Oktoberfest. The festival lasts just over two weeks, starting on the third Saturday in September and usually ending on the first Sunday in October (but never before October 3 - the day Germany celebrates its reunification)."
I remember a time during the Peppy Tech days in Germany when some of us went on a day trip to Munich for Oktoberfest. Good times!
Micki took the day off.
Doug in Albuquerque, New Mexico, took the day off.
mj took the day off.
Stephen F took the day off.
Kenn B took the day off.
Dave in Tucson took the day off.
Rosemary in Columbus took the day off.
Daniel in The City took the day off.
-pgw took the day off.
Joe ( -- Vote Blue, No Matter Who -- ) took the day off.
Gary K took the day off.
David of Moon Valley took the day off.
John I from Hawai`i took the day off.
Kevin in Washington DC took the day off.
Michelle in AZ took the day off.
Leo in Boise took the day off.
Roy, still a Libtard Snowflake, still isolated in Tyler, TX took the day off.
Harry M. took the day off.
Roy the (now retired) hoghead (aka 'hoghed') ( Without music to decorate it, time is just a bunch of boring production deadlines or dates by which bills must be paid. ~Frank Zappa ) took the day off.
Ed K took the day off.
DAngelo took the day off.
Jon L took the day off.
Saskplanner took the day off.
Gateway Mike took the day off.
Steve in Wonderful Sacramento, CA, took the day off.
MarilynofTC took the day off.
George M. took the day off.
Paul of Seattle took the day off.
Brian S. took the day off.
Gene took the day off.
Tony K. took the day off.
Noel S. took the day off.
James of Alhambra took the day off.
BttbBob has returned to semi-retired status.
~~~~~
Music: "Cimmaron" from the album CHICAGO COUNTRY LEGENDS
Artist: The Sundowners
Series: Bloodshot Revival Series (Various Artists)
Music Company: Bloodshot Records
Artist Location: Chicago
Info: “These beloved country workhorses never toured or scored a hit, but their repertoire of 25,000 songs made them hugely influential on the alt-country scene.” — Chicago Reader
“Welcome to the Bloodshot Revival/Soundies series. These stellar recordings from some of country music's finest names capture the essence of what we love about country music.
“Most of these records are taken from transcription acetates that came into our possession--special recordings that were leased to radio stations for airplay and not available for sale--and the sound quality is superlative.”
Price: $1 (USD) for track; $6 (USD) for 24-track album
The shittens are doing well - Frankie is a picky eater, but Vinnie wants to try everything. Don't ask.
Tonight, Saturday:
CBS begins the night with a FRESH'Love Island', followed by '48 Hours'.
NBC fills the night with LIVE'Stanley Cup Stuff', then pads the left coast with local crap.
Of course, 'SNL' is a RERUN (from 02/18/12), with Maya Rudolph hosting, music by Sleigh Bells.
ABC fills the night with LIVE'Monday Night Football'.
The CW recycles some old 'Friends', and some old '2½ Men'.
Faux fills the night with LIVE'MLS Soccer', then pads the left coast with local crap.
MY fills the night with FRESH'Stellar Gospel Music Awards'.
A&E has 'Live Rescue', followed by a FRESH'Live Rescue: Rewind', then a FRESH'Live Rescue'.
AMC offers the movie 'The Matrix', followed by the movie 'The Matrix Reloaded'.
BBC -
[6:00AM] MADAGASCAR - Island of Marvels
[7:00AM] MADAGASCAR - Lost Worlds
[8:00AM] MADAGASCAR - Land of Heat and Dust
[9:00AM] EARTHFLIGHT - North America (Extended)
[10:00AM] EARTHFLIGHT - Africa (Extended)
[11:00AM] EARTHFLIGHT - Europe (Extended)
[12:00PM] EARTHFLIGHT - South America (Extended)
[1:00PM] EARTHFLIGHT - Asia and Australia (Extended)
[2:00PM] PLANET EARTH: BLUE PLANET II - One Ocean
[3:00PM] PLANET EARTH: BLUE PLANET II - The Deep
[4:00PM] PLANET EARTH: BLUE PLANET II - Coral Reefs
[5:00PM] PLANET EARTH: BLUE PLANET II - Big Blue
[6:00PM] PLANET EARTH: BLUE PLANET II - Green Seas
[7:00PM] PLANET EARTH: BLUE PLANET II - Coasts
[8:00PM] EARTHFLIGHT - Flying High (Extended)
[9:10PM] PLANET EARTH: A CELEBRATION
[10:35PM] PLANET EARTH: BLUE PLANET II - One Ocean
[11:35PM] PLANET EARTH: BLUE PLANET II - The Deep
[12:35AM] PLANET EARTH: BLUE PLANET II - Coral Reefs
[1:35AM] PLANET EARTH: BLUE PLANET II - Big Blue
[2:35AM] PLANET EARTH: BLUE PLANET II - Green Seas
[3:35AM] PLANET EARTH: BLUE PLANET II - Coasts
[4:35AM] EARTHFLIGHT - Flying High
[5:45AM] HIDDEN HABITATS - Great Barrier Reef (ALL TIMES ET)
Bravo has the movie 'Skyfall', followed by the movie 'Speed', then the movie 'Speed', again.
Comedy Central has all old 'Chappelle's Show' all night.
FX has the movie 'Fast & Furious 6', followed by the movie 'Furious 7'.
IFC -
[6:15A] Saved by the Bell
[6:45A] Saved by the Bell
[7:15A] Saved by the Bell
[7:45A] Saved by the Bell
[8:15A] Saved by the Bell
[8:45A] Saved by the Bell
[9:15A] Saved by the Bell
[9:45A] Saved by the Bell
[10:15A] Saved by the Bell
[10:45A] Saved by the Bell
[11:15A] Saved by the Bell
[11:45A] Saved by the Bell
[12:15P] Envy
[2:30P] Kick-Ass 2
[5:00P] Transporter 2
[7:00P] The Dark Knight Rises
[11:00P] Inglourious Basterds
[2:30A] Transporter 2
[4:30A] The Three Stooges - All Gummed Up
[5:00A] The Three Stooges - Grips, Grunts and Groans
[5:30A] The Three Stooges - Dizzy Detectives (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] rambo: first blood part ii
[6:30pm] rambo iii
[9:00pm] scarface
[1:00am] rambo iii
[3:30am] rambo: first blood part ii
[5:30am] columbo - Identity Crisis (ALL TIMES ET)
SyFy has the movie 'Zombieland', followed by the movie 'Beetlejuice'.
The move is surprising. Both Faris and Janney are in the middle of two-year contracts they signed in spring 2019 after lengthy negotiations. Their new deals secured a two-year renewal for the Chuck Lorre comedy through Season 8.
I hear Faris’ exit was finalized early into the show’s hiatus, and the writers have been writing the new season without her character, Christy. Her absence will be addressed in the upcoming season, which is slated to start production September 14 in Los Angeles.
“The past seven years on Mom have been some of the most fulfilling and rewarding of my career,” Farris said. “I’m so thankful to Chuck, the writers, and my amazing castmates for creating a truly wonderful work experience. While my journey as Christy has come to an end, allowing me to pursue new opportunities, I’ll be watching next season and rooting for my TV family.”
Mom is produced by Chuck Lorre Productions in association with Warner Bros Television. It was created by Lorre, Eddie Gorodetsky and Gemma Baker, who wrote the pilot script on spec. It landed at CBS with a pilot order in December 2012. A couple of weeks later, Faris closed a deal to star in her first full-time TV series role.
U.S. President Donald Trump (R-Putin's Fluffer) said the United States must look "very seriously" into the suspected poisoning of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, but that his administration had not yet seen any proof.
"It's tragic. It's terrible, it shouldn't happen. We haven't had any proof yet, but I will take a look," Trump said at a news conference, before telling journalists they should be focusing on China, not Russia.
Trump did not take as strong a stand as the State Department, which earlier on Friday expressed grave concern about the finding that Navalny was poisoned.
Navalny is the most popular and prominent opponent of President Vladimir Putin, and the German announcement this week that he was poisoned by a nerve agent has raised the possibility of further Western sanctions against Moscow.
In a contentious interview on the BBC’s “Newshour” on Friday, the president’s new coronavirus adviser, Dr. Scott Atlas, said the United States had actually handled the coronavirus pandemic better than Europe, citing a discredited statistic of unknown origin.
In recent days, Atlas has eclipsed Dr. Anthony Fauci and Dr. Deborah Birx as Trump’s most visible, and presumably trusted, coronavirus adviser. In that role he used his appearance on the BBC to defend aspects of the president’s widely criticized response to COVID-19.
Atlas is affiliated with the conservative Hoover Institution at Stanford University. An expert in brain imaging, he has no experience with pandemic response but appears to have parlayed his frequent appearances on Fox News into a White House appointment.
Confronted by the BBC interviewer regarding his lack of expertise, Atlas lashed out. “You know, I have to laugh at that,” he said, adding that it was “sort of silly” to think a virologist or immunologist was needed to deal with the pandemic.
The famed Mustang Ranch brothel is eligible to apply for small business grants as part of money a Nevada county received under a federal coronavirus relief package, officials have decided.
The brothel, located about 15 miles (24 kilometers) east of Reno, is the only one in Storey County and is among roughly 20 legal brothels in the state, all of which have been shuttered since mid-March. It is owned by a county commissioner, Lance Gilman.
The county, which plans to offer grants of up to $3,000, is among a group of largely rural counties that are issuing small business grants with money they received as part of a federal relief package sending $150 billion to local governments.
Nevada is the only U.S. state that allows brothels with licensed sex workers, an old West holdover that’s been legitimized in the live-and-let-live state. They're only allowed to operate in seven mostly rural counties and not in Las Vegas or Reno. Prostitution remains illegal in the state outside of the few brothels, and the sex workers in the brothels are typically independent contractors, not employees.
The Pentagon has ordered the military's independent newspaper, Stars and Stripes, to cease publication at the end of the month, despite congressional efforts to continue funding the century-old publication.
The order to halt publication by Sept. 30, and dissolve the organization by the end of January, follows the Pentagon's move earlier this year to cut the $15.5 million in funding for the paper from the Defense Department budget. And it is a reflection of the Trump administration's broader animosity for the media and members of the press.
Members of Congress have objected to the defunding move for months. And senators sent a letter to Defense Secretary Mark Esper this week urging him to reinstate the money. The letter, signed by 15 senators — including Republicans and Democrats — also warns Esper that the department is legally prohibited from canceling a budget program while a temporary continuing resolution to fund the federal government is in effect.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-Narnia, in a separate letter to Esper in late August, also voiced opposition to the move, calling Stripes “a valued ‘hometown newspaper’ for the members of the Armed Forces, their families, and civilian employees across the globe.” He added that “as a veteran who has served overseas, I know the value that the Stars and Stripes brings to its readers.”
The first Black woman is on a major party presidential ticket, Americans of all races are showing their support for the Black Lives Matter movement and at the same time white nationalists are ramping up recruiting efforts and public activism.
That nationwide backing for America's stated goal of equal rights for all has been met by a rise in hate-related activities is part of a decades-long pattern in the United States, six scholars and historians say - any expansion of civil rights for a minority group leads to a rise in intolerance.
"Each wave of civil rights progress brings us a little closer to real equity, but there will always be backlash from those who feel threatened by that progress," said Cynthia Miller-Idriss, director of research with the Polarization and Extremism Research and Innovation Lab at American University in Washington. People who feel vulnerable to change become "eager to recruit and radicalize support to slow things down, even if by use of violence or radicalized propaganda," she said.
After the first Black president, Barack Obama, was elected in 2008, the number of hate groups "ballooned," Miller-Idriss said, just as Ku Klux Klan activity grew again after the 1954 Brown v. Board of Ed. decision desegregating schools, and during the 1960s civil rights movement. Backlashes happened after women got the right to vote, and as LGBTQ rights expanded, too.
After parting ways with President Jerry Falwell Jr in the wake of personal scandals, Liberty University has hired a firm to investigate “all facets” of Falwell’s tenure, including the school’s financial and real estate operations.
Falwell, who took over as president of Liberty in 2007 after years as a lawyer handling its real estate interests, intertwined his personal finances with those of the evangelical Christian university founded by his father.
He put his two sons - and their wives as well - on the university’s payroll. He arranged the transfer of a multi-acre Liberty facility to his personal trainer. He enlisted a friend’s construction company to manage an ambitious campus expansion costing hundreds of millions of dollars.
And before becoming school president, Falwell set up two companies that enabled him to cut property deals with one of the many nonprofit entities affiliated with the university, Reuters found. In each of the deals, Falwell played multiple roles with potentially conflicting interests: He was an officer of the university, a board member for the nonprofit selling the land, and a private developer who could profit from the transactions.
Part of the Trump administration’s border wall between the US and Mexico is at risk of collapsing just months after it was constructed, new engineering reports claim.
The border wall, constructed at the shore of Rio Grande, which forms part of the border between the US and Mexico, is at risk of collapsing due to construction flaws, new reports to be filed in federal court this week allege.
The wall, that stretches three miles along the river, was built earlier this year by construction company Fisher Sand and Gravel, who are based in North Dakota.
According to the documents, which were obtained by ProPublica and The Texas Tribune, sections of the wall are at risk of collapsing if erosion issues are not fixed and maintained.
Archaeologists in Norway have unearthed the 1,100-year-old grave of a Viking warrior, whose steel sword was placed in an unusual spot: on his left side.
Though the sword's sinistral position is still somewhat perplexing, one theory is that the Vikings perceived the afterlife to be a mirror image of the real world, so whoever buried this warrior may have been accounting for that, said Raymond Sauvage, the excavation's project manager and an archaeologist at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) University Museum. According to that theory, the warrior would have been left-handed and worn the sword at his right hip, so the 2.6-foot-long (80 centimeters) sword was simply buried on what would have been his "mirror" side, Sauvage said.
"Usually, the swords in Viking graves are placed on the right-hand side," Sauvage told Live Science in an email. "Normally, a warrior would [fasten] his sword on the left side" so that it could be pulled out by the right hand. This discrepancy — that is, that Vikings buried their swords on the opposite side of the body from where weapons were typically worn — has led some archaeologists to think that the Vikings believed in a "mirror world" afterlife.
"The idea is that this placement must reflect some beliefs that were important in the mortuary rites," Sauvage said, adding that "other [Viking] items are often found to be placed mirrored of what is normal. Several archaeologists therefore believe that this may reflect a belief that they understood the afterlife to be mirrored of the normal world."
Archaeologists found this Viking grave and others ahead of a road construction project in the village of Vinjeøra, in central Norway. So far, excavation teams have found about 10 burial mounds that contain roughly 20 graves, including those of two mortuary houses and three boat graves, which were excavated in 2019. The new excavation revealed that one of the mounds held three graves: the warrior buried with the left-placed sword, as well as a spear, axe and shield boss (the round material, usually made of heavy metal, at the center of the shield); a grave with a broad axe; and a cremation burial with artifacts usually associated with female burials, including an oval brooch, scissors and beads.
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