• As an elite figure skater, Sarah Hughes had the opportunity to compete in other countries while taking Spanish in high school. When she learned that she would compete in Mexico, she was excited about practicing her Spanish on the Mexicans. It didn’t work out the way she expected, though, because the Mexicans were even more excited about practicing their English on Sarah.
• Early in his career, Russian bass Feodor Chaliapine once knew an Italian ballerina named Tornaghi who danced in his country but was homesick for Italy. To comfort her, he used to say all the Italian words he knew at that time: "allegro andante religioso moderato.” (Later, he married her.)
Letters
• Sid Fleischman, author of the McBroom comedy series of children’s books, is a very good writer — so are many of the children who write him letters. In his autobiography, The Abracadabra Kid, Mr. Fleischman includes brief selections from some of the letters that children have written him. A few examples: “Dear Sid Fleischman, I have read Mr. Mysterious & Company. It is the second best book I ever read.” “Dear Sid, I think for a man you write pretty good books.” “Sorry I can’t talk long, but I’m planning to write to the president.”
• Composer Franz Joseph Haydn married a woman who was difficult to get along with, and he was happy when his work took him away from her for long periods of time. During one occasion when Mr. Haydn was long away from his wife, a visitor asked him about several unopened letters piled up on his desk. Mr. Haydn replied, “They’re from my wife. We write to each other every month, but I don’t bother to open her letters, and I’m sure she doesn’t open mine.”
• Amelia Earhart flew airplanes at a time when that was dangerous; therefore, at various times in her life, such as immediately before attempting to become the first woman passenger to fly across the Atlantic Ocean, she wrote “popping-off” letters to her family and friends. These were letters that would be delivered to her family and friends if she died in the attempt to set a new record.
• The Wee Pals comic strip features a rainbow of children of all races, both genders, and a few handicaps. Because of the black children in the comic strip, people sometimes wrote the strip’s creator, Morrie Turner, to ask if he really knew any black people. He would write back, “Only my mother and father, my wife, and my son.”
• While working at Marvel Comics, Stan Lee wrote a “Soapbox” column. Of course, he received many, many letters asking many, many questions. One of his favorite letters asked him, “What do you want to be when you grow up?”
Money
• As a Methodist preacher in Texas, Edwin Porter attended the Annual Conference every year. This was a big deal because at it he would find out to which church he would be assigned for the following year. A Porter family tradition was to take along one of the children to the Annual Conference when he or she reached the age of 11. Alyene Porter, the youngest daughter, wondered why this great privilege was given at the age of 11, instead of some other age. Brother Hugh speculated it was because at age 11 the children’s understanding was more developed, but brother Paul Candler came up with a different reason: “It was the last year we could ride the train for half fare.”
• When telephone psychic Dougall Fraser was working for the Psychic Friends Network, a woman who called herself Champagne called him every morning at 11 a.m. to ask such questions as “When is my husband getting out of jail?” and “When am I getting my welfare check?” Finally, Mr. Fraser could stand it no longer and told her, “Champagne, the next time you want to call me, I want you to take $50, open a window, and throw it out. Because that’s what you’re doing every day. It is a complete waste of your money.” She slammed down the telephone receiver and never called him again.
The Mabinogion are the earliest prose stories of the literature of Britain. The stories were compiled in Middle Welsh in the 12th–13th centuries from earlier oral traditions. There are two main source manuscripts, created c. 1350–1410, as well as a few earlier fragments. The title covers a collection of eleven prose stories of widely different types, offering drama, philosophy, romance, tragedy, fantasy and humour, and created by various narrators over time. There is a classic hero quest, "Culhwch and Olwen"; a historic legend in "Lludd and Llefelys," complete with glimpses of a far off age; and other tales portray a very different King Arthur from the later popular versions. The highly sophisticated complexity of the Four Branches of the Mabinogi defies categorisation. The stories are so diverse that it has been argued that they are not even a true collection.
Scholars from the 18th century to the 1970s predominantly viewed the tales as fragmentary pre-Christian Celtic mythology, or in terms of international folklore. There are certainly components of pre-Christian Celtic mythology and folklore, but since the 1970s an understanding of the integrity of the tales has developed, with investigation of their plot structures, characterisation, and language styles. They are now seen as a sophisticated narrative tradition, both oral and written, with ancestral construction from oral storytelling, and overlay from Anglo-French influences.
Source
Billy in Cypress U.S.A. was first, and correct, with:
Britain
Mark. said:
Britain (Wales).
Randall wrote:
Britain
Alan J answered:
They are Welsh, so Great Britain.
Dave responded:
Wales.
Jim from CA, retired to ID, replied:
Happy Easter....The Mabinogion are the earliest prose stories of the literature of Britain.
Roy, fully vaccinated, but I'm in Texas, so the state may be open, but I'm still being socially distant! wrote:
Mabinogion, collection of 11 medieval Welsh tales based on mythology, folklore, and heroic legends. The tales provide interesting examples of the transmission of Celtic, Norman, and French traditions in early romance. The name Mabinogion is derived from a scribal error and is an unjustified but convenient term for these anonymous tales.
Deborah, the Master Gardener responded:
Great Britain. That’s news to me.
Didn’t realize I’d taken a few days off; just got busy with spring chores and bike rides and dog training and left the laptop alone. Hope your stove is all hooked up and ready to go.
David of Moon Valley replied:
the all great and powerful Wizard of Wiki tells me...
Britain…hmmm, is that north or south Britain? he didn’t say…just Britain….
oh well….
Happy Easter one and all!!
Jacqueline said:
Britain.
Rosemary in Columbus wrote:
Britain
Cal in Vermont answered:
Britain.
mj took the day off.
Daniel in The City took the day off.
John I from Hawai`i took the day off.
DJ Useo took the day off.
Stephen F took the day off.
Dave in Tucson took the day off.
Michelle in AZ took the day off.
Tony DeN took the day off.
Jon L took the day off.
Mac Mac took the day off.
Barbara, of Peppy Tech fame took the day off.
Bob from Mechanicsburg, Pa took the day off.
Leo in Boise took the day off.
Roy the (now retired) hoghed took the day off.
Doug in Albuquerque, New Mexico, took the day off.
George M. took the day off.
Ed K took the day off.
Joe S (We resisted, we voted, we won. Get over it) took the day off.
Gary K took the day off.
Gateway Mike took the day off.
Stephen aus Oz (& peppy tech, too) took the day off.
Kevin K. in Washington DC, Where Republicans cannot see sedition clearly, even now, took the day off.
-pgw took the day off.
Kenn B took the day off.
Micki took the day off.
Angelo D took the day off.
Harry M. took the day off.
Saskplanner took the day off.
Steve in Wonderful Sacramento, CA, took the day off.
MarilynofTC 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.
~~~~~
Crush are Christina Lessiak, Katrin Borecky, Christian Lach, Verena Borecky, and Manfred Herzog. They are based in Graz, Austria.
“AB Records is an e-zine and record label that promotes the music and work of authentic independent or underground artists from all around the world. Originally established in 2013, they revamped themselves in 2018 with a brand-new approach. Their first weekly compilation, aptly titled THE SECOND COMING, was released in late 2019. They now also release original singles, EPs and charity projects.”
“TWIST & SHOUT is this week's sampler, 23 hidden gems from all around the world. Sharing its title with the often-recorded classic, this compilation is actually named after the song by Austrian cinematic indie pop outfit, Crush. Crush are this week's pick from the roster of the brilliant Numavi Records. Big Stir Records appear, too. The Armoires contribute a track from their surprise April Fool's Day record!”
Price: £1 (GBP) for track; £2.10 (GBP) for 23-track album
The new stove is OK, but it has a design flaw that doesn't allow for a 10" skillet on either back burner and one of the back burners is way outta whack.
Do I send it back and experience more weeks of no stove or learn to live with it?
Sigh.
RERUNFRESH
Tonight, Sunday:
CBS starts the night, as usual, with '60 Minutes', followed by a FRESH'The Equalizer', then a FRESH'NCIS: The 2nd One', followed by a FRESH'NCIS: The Expendable One'.
NBC opens the night with a RERUN'Ellen's Mean Game Of Games', followed by a FRESH'Ellen's Mean Game Of Games', then a FRESH'Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist', followed by a RERUN'Good Girls'.
ABC begins the night with a FRESH'America's So-Called Funniest Home Videos', followed by a FRESH'American Idol', then a FRESH'The Rookie'.
The CW offers a RERUN'World's Funniest Animals', followed by another RERUN'World's Funniest Animals', then a RERUN'Masters Of Illusion', followed by another RERUN'Masters Of Illusion'.
Faux fills the night with the FRESH'Malika The Lion Queen'.
MY recycles an old 'Big Bang Theory', followed by another old 'Big Bang Theory', then still another old 'Big Bang Theory', followed by yet another 'Big Bang Theory'.
AMC offers 'The Walking Dead', another 'The Walking Dead', followed by a FRESH'The Walking Dead', then a FRESH'Gangs Of London', followed by a FRESH'Talking Dead'.
BBC -
[6:00AM - 10:00AM] PLANET EARTH: SOUTH PACIFIC
[11:00AM] JACK THE GIANT SLAYER
[1:30PM] CLOVERFIELD
[3:30PM] BATTLE: LOS ANGELES
[6:00PM] THE FIFTH ELEMENT
[9:00PM] THE FIFTH ELEMENT
[12:00AM] JACK THE GIANT SLAYER
[2:30AM] BATTLE: LOS ANGELES
[5:00AM] STAR TREK: DEEP SPACE NINE (ALL TIMES ET)
Bravo has 'Real Housewives Of Atlanta', followed by a FRESH'Real Housewives Of Atlanta', then a FRESH'Married To Medicine', followed by a FRESH'Bravo's Chat Room'.
Comedy Central has the movie 'We're The Millers', followed by the movie 'Identity Thief'.
FX has the movie 'Peter Rabbit', followed by the movie 'Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle', then the movie 'Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle', again.
History has 'The Food That Built America', another 'The Food That Built America', followed by a FRESH'The Food That Built America', then a FRESH'Modern Marvels'.
IFC -
[6:00am - 12:00pm] Three's Company
[12:30pm] Blues Brothers 2000
[3:15pm] Back To The Future Part III
[6:00pm] Bee Movie
[8:00pm] The LEGO Movie
[10:15pm] Bee Movie
[12:15am] The LEGO Movie
[2:30am] Warm Bodies
[4:45am] The Three Stooges - Punch Drunks
[5:00am] The Three Stooges - Sock-A-Bye-Baby
[5:30am] Parks And Recreation (ALL TIMES ET)
Sundance -
[6:00am] monk - Mr. Monk And The Psychic
[7:00am] monk - Mr. Monk Meets Dale The Whale
[8:00am] monk - Mr. Monk Goes To The Carnival
[9:00am] monk - Mr. Monk Goes To The Asylum
[10:00am] the bank job
[12:30pm] an officer and a gentleman
[3:30pm] the taking of pelham 123
[6:00pm] a fistful of dollars
[8:30pm] the good, the bad and the ugly
[12:45am] for a few dollars more
[3:45am - 5:15am] hogan's heroes
[5:45am] love lust - Love Lust & The Bikini (ALL TIMES ET)
SyFy has the movie 'Robin Hood', followed by the movie 'San Andreas'.
The USC Comedy Festival, Vol. 5 has announced its full lineup which features stars like Bill Hader, Lisa Kudrow, Ramy Youssef, Aidy Bryant, Ziwe Fumudoh and Patton Oswalt. The festival, sponsored by the university's Visions and Voices, will take place virtually April 9–11. Events are free and open to the public.
As part of the announcement from director of programming and special projects Alex Ago, this year's fest features a special partnership with Hulu Original Comedy that will showcase the streamer's programming including such shows as Shrill, Woke and Ramy. Kudrow will appear on an April 9 panel titled "Can Comedy Be Taught" that will also feature professor Wayne Federman, UCB founder Matt Besser, and comedian Demetri Martin.
Hader will appear on April 10 during the Oakie Masters of Comedy Lecture Series opposite Federman during which he will be honored with the Oakie Award. Prior recipients of the award include Kudrow, Kenya Barris, James L. Brooks, Judd Apatow, Mel Brooks, James Burrows, Steve Carell, Paul Feig, Phil Rosenthal and Tim Story.
April 11 is dedicated to Hulu Original Comedy with panel spotlights on Hulu's Shrill featuring Aidy Bryant, Woke featuring co-creators Keith Knight and Marshall Todd, adult animation featuring Patton Oswalt, and "From Pitch to Peabody," a conversation with Youssef and Billy Rosenberg, vp Hulu Originals and head of comedy.
Parton’s comic book “Female Force: Dolly Parton” will be release on Wednesday, March 31. The 22-page book will talk about Dolly’s life. It is the latest in a string of comics from publishing company TidalWave Comics focused on women who “make an impact around the world.”
“We’ve found a niche with our bio comics,” TidalWave publisher Darren G. Davis. “Our success with this comic shows that there is a much wider audience for sequential storytelling than many have thought. These readers are simply looking for something other than superheroes. With our bio comics, we strive to bring these new readers evenhanded, well-researched looks at some of their favorite celebrities.”
The comic is written by Michael Frizell and illustrated by Ramon Salas. Digital and print versions will be available. A hard cover edition will be offered with cover by artist Dave Ryan. There will also be five collectible retailer exclusive covers.
The “Female Force” series features prominent and influential authors, business executives, entertainers, journalists, politicians, and activists. Previous titles have profiled Mother Teresa, Tina Fey, Betty White, Michelle Obama, Barbra Streisand to Cher and Gloria Steinem.
Hulu will produce a documentary series based on “ The 1619 Project,” stories in The New York Times that examined the legacy of slavery in America dating from the arrival of the first slave ship from Africa.
Roger Ross Williams, an Academy Award-winning director for his film “Music by Prudence,” will oversee and produce the series, it was announced Thursday.
The announcement was an outgrowth of a deal announced last summer by the Times, Lionsgate and Oprah Winfrey to develop “The 1619 Project” into a portfolio of films, television series and other content. They will also be producers, along with Williams’ business partner, Geoff Martz.
The Pulitzer Prize-winning newspaper series, from writer Nikole Hannah-Jones, began appearing on the 400th anniversary of ship’s arrival in the then-British colony of Virginia.
A procession of floats carried the mummified remains of 22 pharaohs, including Egypt's most powerful ancient queen, through Cairo Saturday evening, in an eye-catching parade to a new resting place.
Under hefty security, the mummies were driven on floats seven kilometres (four miles) across the capital from the iconic Egyptian Museum to the new National Museum of Egyptian Civilisation.
Dubbed the "Pharaohs' Golden Parade", the 18 kings and four queens travelled in order, oldest first, each aboard a separate vehicle decorated in ancient Egyptian style.
Both pedestrians and vehicles were barred from Tahrir Square, site of the current museum, and other sections of the route.
The mummies entered the grounds of the new museum to a 21-gun salute, after a slightly shorter than expected journey time of around half an hour.
During the last ice age, when hunters and gatherers crossed the ancient Bering Land Bridge that connected Asia with North America, they carried something special with them in their genetic code: pieces of ancestral Australian DNA, a new study finds.
Over the generations, these people and their descendants trekked southward, making their way to South America. Even now, more than 15,000 years after these people crossed the Bering Land Bridge, their descendants — who still carry ancestral Australian genetic signatures — can be found in parts of the South American Pacific coast and in the Amazon, the researchers found.
"Much of this history has unfortunately been erased by the colonization process, but genetics is an ally to unravel unrecorded histories and populations," study senior researcher and professor Tábita Hünemeier and study co-lead researcher and doctoral student Marcos Araújo Castro e Silva, both of whom are in the Department of Genetics and Evolutionary Biology at the University of São Paulo in Brazil, told Live Science in an email.
The new research builds on earlier work, first published in 2015, which showed that ancient and modern Indigenous people in the Amazon shared specific genetic signatures — known as the Ypikuéra, or Y signal — with modern-day Indigenous groups in South Asia, Australia and Melanesia, a group of islands in Oceania.
This genetic connection caught many scientists off guard, and it remains "one of the most intriguing and poorly understood events in human history," the researchers wrote in the new study.
Amazon is sorry for tweeting about peeing. The company apologized in a late Friday blog post for a tweet it sent to a congressman more than a week ago denying that its employees work so hard they must urinate in empty water bottles. It also admitted that some delivery drivers might have had to urinate in bottles and it vowed to improve their working conditions.
The matter was first raised March 24 by Wisconsin U.S. Rep. Mark Pocan, who responded to a tweet by an Amazon executive that said the company was a progressive workplace.
“Paying workers $15/hr doesn’t make you a ‘progressive workplace’ when you union-bust & make workers urinate in water bottles,” Pocan said in his tweet.
Amazon responded: “You don’t really believe the peeing in bottles thing, do you? If that were true, nobody would work for us.”
In the Friday night blog post, Amazon apologized to Pocan and acknowledged that delivery drivers “can and do have trouble finding restrooms because of traffic or sometimes rural routes.” The online shopping giant said COVID-19 has made the issue worse, since many public restrooms are closed.
Fossil-fuel companies have received billions of dollars in tax benefits from the US government as part of coronavirus relief measures, only to lay off tens of thousands of their workers during the pandemic, new figures reveal.
A group of 77 firms involved in the extraction of oil, gas and coal received $8.2bn under tax-code changes that formed part of a major pandemic stimulus bill passed by Congress last year. Five of these companies also got benefits from the paycheck protection program, totaling more than $30m.
Despite this, almost every one of the fossil-fuel companies laid off workers, with a more than 58,000 people losing their jobs since the onset of the pandemic, or around 16% of the combined workforces.
The largest beneficiary of government assistance has been Marathon Petroleum, which has got $2.1bn in tax benefits.
However, in the year to December 2020, the Ohio-based refining company laid off 1,920 workers, or around 9% of its workforce. As a comparative ratio, Marathon has received around $1m for each worker it made redundant, according to BailoutWatch, a nonprofit advocacy group that analyzed Securities and Exchange Commission filings to compile all the data.
A Louisiana tourist complained he paid $15,000 for a Disney World vacation that was disrupted when he was arrested after he refused to get his temperature checked at Disney Springs, according to video footage released this week by the Orange County Sheriff’s Office.
Kelly Sills, 47, of Baton Rouge, pleaded not guilty on a charge of trespassing following the Feb. 13 incident. Authorities confronted him outside The Boathouse restaurant after Sills skipped the temperature screening tent, refused to go back, and wouldn’t leave the property when asked by Disney and the sheriff’s office, according to the arrest report.
As deputies escorted Sills away, Sills had a change of heart and said he was willing to get his temperature checked after all.
“Will you take my temperature before you kick me out, please?” Sills asked as he was led away handcuffed, according to the deputies’ body camera footage.
“They’ll do that in jail, sir,” a deputy appeared to say.
An unopened copy of Nintendo's Super Mario Bros. that was bought in 1986 and then forgotten about in a desk drawer has sold at auction for $660,000.
The auction house said the video game was bought as a Christmas gift but ended up being placed in a desk drawer, where it remained sealed in plastic and with its hang tab intact until it was found earlier this year.
“Since the production window for this copy and others like it was so short, finding another copy from this same production run in similar condition would be akin to looking for single drop of water in an ocean,” said Valarie McLeckie, Heritage’s video game specialist.
Heritage said it is the finest copy known to have been professionally graded for auction. Its selling price far exceeded the $114,000 that another unopened copy that was produced in 1987 fetched in a Heritage auction last summer.
You have reached the Home page of BartCop Entertainment.
Do you have something to say?
Anything that increased your blood pressure, or, even better, amused or entertained?
Do you have a great album no one's heard?
How about a favorite TV show, movie, book, play, cartoon, or legal amusement?
A popular artist that just plain pisses you off?
A box set the whole world should own?
Vile, filthy rumors about Republican hypocrites?
U.S.A. was first, and correct, with:
has returned to semi-retired status.
In memory.
