• Rumors often fly concerning opera divas and opera house administrators. For example, a rumor was bandied about stating that Joan Hammond and Sir David Webster of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, had had a row in which Ms. Hammond had busted a chair over Sir David's head. Actually, she had sat in the chair, and it had broken. By the way, the British people must love pets. Ms. Hammond wrote in her autobiography, A Voice, A Life, that during World War II the British issued gas masks for dogs.
• In 1967, Plácido Domingo sang the lead role of Giuseppe Verdi's Don Carlos in his debut at the Staatsoper in Vienna, Austria. Only one rehearsal was held - and it wasn't held at the Staatsoper. Therefore, Mr. Domingo was unfamiliar with the stage at the first performance, and when he charged onstage, he nearly fell into the orchestra pit as he sang "Io l-ho perduta." The words mean "I've lost her," but if he had fallen into the orchestra pit, the words could equally well be translated as "I've lost it."
• Supposedly, one of the great moments in rock history occurred when the Ramones first played at CBGB's in New York. Unfortunately, the Ramones were still pretty bad this early in their careers. Their equipment kept breaking down, and they kept yelling at each other. However, they persevered and kept on playing at CBGB's, even though occasionally bassist Dee Dee Ramone would shout "OneTwoThreeFour!" and the four Ramones would each start playing or singing a different song.
• Early in her career, soprano Leslie Garrett appeared as Cupid in Orontea for Musica nel Chiostro (Music in the Cloisters) in Batignano, Italy. Little money was available for costumes, and as Cupid Ms. Garrett wore only some silver cycling shorts and a strategically placed towel. At a dress rehearsal attended by local villagers, the towel somehow flew off, angering the local matrons but gladdening their sons. After that near-riot dress rehearsal, Ms. Garrett glued the towel to her chest.
• Opera singers can be funny during dress rehearsals. At the Metropolitan Opera in New York, during a dress rehearsal of Carmen, the singer playing Don José was telling Carmen how much he wanted to passionately make love to her. Unfortunately, as he confessed his desire to make love to her he was having trouble loosening his scabbard so he could take it off. Marilyn Horne, who was playing Carmen, told him, "Sure, as soon as you get the sword off, honey."
• Walter Page, a bassist for Count Basie, once bought a new set of teeth that were so good that he ate a big barbeque rib dinner on the bus. Afterward, he wrapped up the remains of the dinner and threw the package out the window. About 75 miles later, Mr. Page suddenly asked, "Hey, has anybody seen my teeth?" Unfortunately, the bus had gone too far to turn around and go back to find the teeth mixed in with the remains of the rib dinner. (One moral of the story is this: Don't litter.)
• Tenors can be temperamental. During the 1953 season of the Chicago Civic Opera House, tenor David Poleri, who was singing the role of Don José in Carmen, became infuriated at what he thought was a too-fast tempo set by the conductor. In fact, he became so infuriated that he told the conductor, "Finish the d*mn opera yourself!" and then stalked off, leaving Carmen alone and forcing her to commit suicide rather than being murdered.
Diane Crump (born 1948) is an American jockey and horse trainer. Crump was the first woman to ride in a pari-mutuel race in the United States; her participation in the event was so contested that she required a full police escort through the crowds at the Hialeah Park Race Track. She went on to be the first woman to ride in the Kentucky Derby. Crump briefly retired 1985 to become a horse trainer, but returned to riding and was a professional jockey until retiring in 1999. She now runs an equine sales business.
On February 7, 1969, Crump became the first woman to compete as a professional jockey in a pari-mutuel race in the United States. She rode a horse named "Bridle 'n Bit at Hialeah Park Race Track. There was so much hostility to a woman riding in a horse race that she needed a police escort to get to the track, taking her through an angry crowd of shouting people. Crump ultimately finished 9th in the 12-horse race and returned to cheers of support. Two weeks later, Crump rode her first winning race.
In 1970, she became the first female jockey to ride in the Kentucky Derby. Crump won the first race on the underdcard that day, and then on a horse named Fathom, came in 15th in a 17-horse field in the Derby. By the time she ended her racing career in 1985, she had ridden to 235 wins, though she is officially credited with 228 by Equibase.
Source
Billy in Cypress U$A was first, and correct, with:
Kentucky Derby
Mark. said:
The first woman to ride in a pari-mutuel race in the United States.
Randall wrote:
Horse Racing
Diane Crump was a jockey
Alan J answered:
The Kentucky Derby.
Cal in Vermont replied:
Big time horse racing.
David of Moon Valley responded:
…and the wikidudette says….Horse Racing……....and they're off….
zorch said:
The Kentucky Derby
Jim from CA, retired to ID, wrote:
Kentucky Derby
Adam answered:
To ride in a pari-mutuel race in the United States.
John I from Hawai`i says,
Kentucky Derby
Daniel in The City replied:
Horse racing
Deborah, the Master Gardener, responded:
Diane Crump was the first female jockey to ride in an American pari-mutuel race. I know this because I wanted to be a jockey, as smitten with all things equine as I was as a kid. By 6th grade I ws 5'5" and 120 lbs., and was already too big. I was sure excited about Diane Crump's career, especially when she rode in the Kentucky Derby.
Congratulations, and thanks, for a new page and trivia question, now 701 days in a row. Keep up the good work, and keep the Q-tips from the shittens.
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~~~~~
CBS starts the night, as usual, with '60 Minutes', followed by the FRESH'The BET Awards 2020'.
NBC opens the night with a FRESH'Hollywood Game Night', followed by a RERUN'The Titan Games', then a RERUN'America's Got Talent'.
ABC begins the night with a RERUN'America's So-Called Funniest Home Videos', followed by a FRESH'Celebrity Family Feud', then a RERUN'Press Your Luck', followed by a RERUN'Match Game'.
The CW offers a RERUN'DC's Stargirl', followed by a RERUN'Penn & Teller: Fool Us'.
Faux has a RERUN'Last Man Standing', followed by a RERUN'Duncanville', then a RERUN'The Simpsons', followed by a RERUN'Bless The Harts', then a RERUN'Bob's Burgers', followed by a RERUN'Family Guy'.
MY recycles an old 'How I Met Your Mother', followed by another old 'How I Met Your Mother', then an old 'Big Bang Theory', followed by another old 'Big Bang Theory', then still another old 'Big Bang Theory', followed by yet another old 'Big Bang Theory'.
AMC offers the movie 'Independence Day', followed by a FRESH'NOS4A2'.
BBC -
[6:00AM] PLANET EARTH: THE HUNT - Arctic
[7:00AM] PLANET EARTH: THE HUNT - Jungles
[8:00AM] PLANET EARTH: THE HUNT - Oceans
[9:00AM] HIDDEN HABITATS - Canada's Coastal Forests
[9:30AM] SHE WALKS WITH APES
[11:30AM] ALONG CAME A SPIDER
[2:00PM] SLEEPY HOLLOW
[4:30PM] THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS
[7:00PM] THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION
[10:00PM] NOS4A2 - Good Father
[11:07PM] THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION
[2:07AM] THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS
[4:38AM] DOCTOR WHO - A Christmas Carol (ALL TIMES EST)
Bravo has the movie 'Boo 2: A Madea Halloween', and 3 hours of old 'Married To Medicine: LA'.
Comedy Central has the movie 'Super Bad', followed by the movie 'Broken Lizard's Super Troopers', then the movie 'Super Bad'.
FX has the movie 'Mission: Impossible Rogue Nation', followed by the movie 'Mission: Impossible Rogue Nation', again.
History has 'World War II: Race To Victory', followed by a FRESH'World War II: Race To Victory'.
IFC -
[6:00A] The Three Stooges - Violent Is the Word for Curly
[6:15A] Cheech & Chong Still Smokin'
[8:15A] The Warriors
[10:30A] Sniper
[12:45P] White House Down
[3:45P] The Departed
[7:00P] The Wolf of Wall Street
[11:00P] Varsity Blues
[1:30A] Zoolander
[3:30A] Mystery Science Theater 3000 - The Incredibly Strange Creatures ...
[5:45A] The Three Stooges - Income-Tax Sappy (ALL TIMES EST)
Sundance -
[6:15am] law & order
[7:15am] law & order
[8:15am] law & order
[9:15am] law & order
[10:15am] law & order
[11:15am] law & order
[12:15pm] stripes
[2:45pm] stir crazy
[4:45pm] smokey and the bandit
[7:00pm] airplane!
[9:00pm] airplane ii: the sequel
[11:00pm] airplane!
[1:00am] airplane ii: the sequel
[3:00am] stir crazy
[5:00am] hogan's heroes
[5:30am] hogan's heroes (ALL TIMES EST)
SyFy has the movie 'Gone In 60 Seconds', followed by the movie 'The Fifth Element'.
Jeffrey "Sparky" and Marilyn Katzenberg hosted a small virtual fundraiser for Joe Biden on Saturday, as the candidate told the Hollywood crowd that Donald Trump's response to the coronavirus was something that "you guys would have trouble making a movie and selling it."
What was not a hard sell was the former Vice-President's latest visit today to the Hollywood ATM. In Biden's first Tinseltown event since formally securing the delegates to lock in the Democrat's Presidential nomination earlier this month, the ex-VP followed in the footsteps of ghis former boss Barack Obama and scored some big cash from one of the Democrats' leading donor bases. In the Quibi chief MC'd afternoon event fueled by major 10 deep pocket donors, Biden walked away digitally with nearly $6 million, according to sources.
"It's almost beyond belief," Biden said Saturday to the 15 donors gathered of Trump's extreme mismanagement of the COVID-19 pandemic and the economic and social crisis' to hit the nation.. "This has got to be a wake-up call. The country is crying for leadership and for healing, and it's time to respond with some purpose and action."
The top bundler for Obama in both 2008 and 2012, Katzenberg introduced Biden, saying that "I think now, more than any time in my lifetime, our country needs you. Your wisdom, your knowledge, your experience is of great value, now maybe even more than ever before. With you as president, our country can become healthy, prosperous, and the land of hope and opportunity that it used to be."
For years, it has seemed as if Donald Trump (R-Failure) can always get what he wants, at least when it comes to using classic rock and pop hits at his campaign rallies against the wishes of the original artists. But the Rolling Stones, who have tried for years to keep the president from appropriating "You Can't Always Get What You Want" as his walk-off music, have not thrown in the towel.
On Saturday, the group sent out a statement saying it is enlisting BMI, the performing rights organization that oversees public use of the song, in their quest to keep the track from being used for politically partisan purposes. And the band says there'll be a lawsuit if the president continues using the song without a license.
"This could be the last time President Donald Trump uses Stones songs," reads the headline to a release sent out by the Stones' reps. The statement reads, in part: "Despite cease & desist directives to Donald Trump in the past, the Rolling Stones are taking further steps to exclude him using their songs at any of his future political campaigning. The Stones' legal team [is] working with BMI… BMI [has] notified the Trump campaign on behalf of the Stones that the unauthorized use of their songs will constitute a breach of its licensing agreement. If Donald Trump disregards the exclusion and persists, then he would face a lawsuit for breaking the embargo and playing music that has not been licensed."
As these disputes have arisen, at issue is whether a song's use in a campaign rally is covered by a blanket license held by the host venue for all performance purposes. BMI is joining the Stones in contending that the Trump campaign is subject to a license specifically established for political uses, which allows songwriters to object to and withhold use.
Taylor Swift, who once was condemned for her political silence, is making up for lost time. The singer/songwriter spoke out Friday on Pride Live's Stonewall Day livestream event, condemning the US Census for offering only two choices for gender.
The event is an annual commemoration of the 1969 Stonewall uprising, which many cite as sparking the modern gay rights movement. Other speakers during the Pride Live's Stonewall Day virtual event included former President Barack Obama, pop stars Katy Perry, Demi Lovato and Kesha, Bravo's Andy Cohen, actress Cynthia Erivo and actor George Takei, among others.
Swift appeared via recording and praised the US Supreme Court for ruling last week that LGBTQ people are protected from workplace discrimination.
"I got my Census the other day and there were two choices for gender. There was male and female and that erasure was so upsetting to me, the erasure of transgender and nonbinary people. When you don't collect information on a group of people, that means that you have every excuse in the world not to support them. When you don't collect data on a community, that's a really, really brutal way of dismissing them."
In a big shift, the producers of The Simpsons say they'll no longer use white actors to play characters of color on the long-running animated series. Additionally, one of the principal voice actors on Family Guy says he'll stop playing the show's main Black character.
"Moving forward, The Simpsons will no longer have White actors voice non-White characters," the show said in a statement Friday.
The move by The Simpsons represents a major shift for the show, which for years resisted calls that a South Asian actor take over the role of Apu from Hank Azaria (the character is the subject of The Problem With Apu, a 2017 documentary by comedian Hari Kondabolu). Azaria has since stopped voicing Apu.
Azaria also voices Carl Carlson and Springfield police officer Lou, who are Black, and Hispanic character Bumblebee Man. Harry Shearer, meanwhile, has played Dr. Hibbert, who's Black, for the show's entire run. Tress MacNeille has also voiced several non-White characters, including Apu's wife, Manjula.
Orange County Democratic Party has filed a resolution to remove actor John Wayne's name from the John Wayne Airport in Orange County, California, citing the late actor's past "white supremacist, anti-LGBT, and anti-Indigenous views."
The officials passed an emergency resolution this week calling on the Orange County Board of Supervisors to drop Wayne's name from the airport and rename it, simply, to Orange County Airport.
The politicians specifically cite an interview Wayne gave to Playboy Magazine in 1971 where he was quoted as saying that he did "believe" in "white supremacy" and added that he did not "…feel guilty about the fact that five or 10 generations ago these people were slaves. Now, I'm not condoning slavery. It's just a fact of life, like the kid who gets infantile paralysis and has to wear braces so he can't play football with the rest of us."
Wayne also said in the interview that he did not feel remorse for Native Americans losing their land at the hand of white colonists.
"I don't feel we did wrong in taking this great country away from them, if that's what you're asking. Our so-called stealing of this country from them was just a matter of survival. There were great numbers of people who needed new land, and the Indians were selfishly trying to keep it for themselves," he said in the interview. "Look, I'm sure there have been inequalities. If those inequalities are presently affecting any of the Indians now alive, they have a right to a court hearing. But what happened 100 years ago in our country can't be blamed on us today."
Three of the world's space agencies have teamed up to create an interactive dashboard map that displays the planet-wide changes brought by the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.
The COVID-19 Earth Observation Dashboard was created by NASA, ESA (European Space Agency), and JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) to analyze the recent changes in air quality, water quality, measures of climate change, economic activity, and agriculture. Using a wealth of data gathered from their combined satellite fleets, the dashboard is designed to explore how the environment and human life have been profoundly affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, looking at everything from air quality in Los Angeles to asparagus harvests in Germany.
"Together NASA, ESA, and JAXA represent a great human asset: advanced Earth-observing instruments in space that are used every day to benefit society and advance knowledge about our home planet," Thomas Zurbuchen, NASA associate administrator for science, said in a statement.
"When we began to see from space how changing patterns of human activity caused by the pandemic were having a visible impact on the planet, we knew that if we combined resources, we could bring a powerful new analytical tool to bear on this fast-moving crisis."
Not everyone can see pictures in their minds when they close their eyes and summon thoughts - an ability many of us take for granted.
While people have been aware of this phenomenon since the 1800s, it hasn't been widely studied, and was only recently named 'aphantasia'. This absence of voluntarily generated mental visual imagery is thought to be experienced by 2-5 percent of the population.
Recent studies suggest aphantasia is indeed a lack of visual imagery rather than the lack of awareness of having internal visual imagery - with some people experiencing loss of this ability after injuries.
"We found that aphantasia isn't just associated with absent visual imagery, but also with a widespread pattern of changes to other important cognitive processes," said cognitive neuroscientist Alexei Dawes from Australia's University of New South Wales (UNSW Sydney).
Dawes and colleagues asked 667 people (267 of them who self-identified as having aphantasia) a series of eight questionnaires on visualisation, memory, dreaming, and response to trauma.
In 2011, Swedish archaeologists found human skulls that had been mounted on stakes at an 8,000-year-old burial site, representing a behavior rarely seen among prehistoric hunter-gatherers. An incredible, computer-aided facial reconstruction finally puts a face to one of these skulls.
Swedish forensic artist Oscar Nilsson created this stunning reconstruction using a replica of the 8,000-year-old skull, which belonged to a Mesolithic man who died in his 50s. Using clues derived from both archaeology and genetics, Nilsson sought to create an accurate portrait of this prehistoric hunter-gatherer, whose head was mounted on a wooden stake after his death.
Researchers from Stockholm University and the Cultural Heritage Foundation found the original skull, along with several others, in 2011 at the Kanaljorden site near the Motala Stro¨m river. The remains of 10 people-nine adults and one infant-were found stacked atop a thick layer of large stones. All adult skulls exhibited signs of blunt force trauma prior to death, which may explain how they died. Some skulls, including the reconstructed skull, had evidence of past injuries that healed. No mandibles were found at the site.
Strangely, three adult male skulls displayed signs of sharp force trauma after death, in manner consistent with the skulls having been mounted to stakes. And indeed, one of the specimens still had a wooden stake sticking out of the cranium. This was an odd post-death ritual for hunter-gatherers and not something seen commonly until the Middle Ages.
In addition to the skull, Nilsson used evidence gleaned from the man's DNA, including his haplogroup (which can indicate ancestry), as well as his hair, eye, and skin color. The skull's jaw was missing, requiring Nilsson to calculate its probable dimensions based on the skull, which he described as "challenging work."
The next time a clash of thunder or a flash of lightning startles you, be thankful you weren't in Brazil on Oct. 31, 2018. That Halloween night, the record for the longest-traveling lightning strike was broken when a bolt stretched 440 miles across the southern region of the country.
Scientists at the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) confirmed the record in a recent American Geophysical Union journal publication, and, in that paper, they also confirmed another startling broken record for lightning duration. According to their findings, a strike in Argentina endured for 16.73 seconds on March 4, 2019, breaking the previous record by nearly nine seconds.
The two record-breaking South American bolts were confirmed megaflashes, a name given to lightning discharges that reach hundreds of kilometers in length.
The record-breaking bolts both occurred in the southeastern corner of South America about a year apart.
In a press release, WMO official Prof. Randall Cerveny said it is likely that even greater lightning extremes exist and improved detection technology will help in future observations.
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