Marc Dion: Stop Shoving Your Sports Agenda Down My Throat (Creators Syndicate)
… a couple months ago, I attended the gay pride festival in our town, not because I'm gay (I'd remember a thing like that) but because it was a nice day and there were going to be hamburgers and ice cream. I took a selfie with a drag queen. Nice guy, even if his wrists are a little too big to get away with it. People complain all the time that the "gay agenda" is "being shoved down their throats," which is a metaphor too horrifying to contemplate. And I know how they feel. The sports agenda has been shoved down my throat for decades.
Susan Estrich: This Time, It Was Saugus [High School] (Creators Syndicate)
We praise the students who acted so quickly, cut off their classrooms, protected their classmates. And they deserve that praise. But barricades may be only slightly better than bomb shelters. Barricades are a Band-Aid. Kids don't wake up one morning at 16 as a psychopath. There are signs and signals. People are embarrassed. They look the other way. It's easier to focus on the threats posed by Mother Nature and One Armed Man. But it doesn't work. The enemy is one of us. The enemy is the kid in AP Bio [Advanced Placement Biology]. Yesterday, you said hi to him. Will he try to kill you tomorrow?
Susan Estrich: The Horrors of Hong Kong (Creators Syndicate)
"The world needs to see that the United States will stand up and say this is wrong; we stand with the people of Hong Kong." That's not me talking. It's not Madeleine Albright or Samantha Power or Nancy Pelosi. That's Jim Risch, Republican senator from Idaho and chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Froma Harrop: Bloomberg, Billionaires and Boobery (Creators Syndicate)
It would be amusing to see President Donald Trump try his tycoon swagger on a debate stage with Bloomberg. Bloomberg built a great media empire from nothing. Trump parlayed a $413 million inheritance (in today's dollars) from his father into six bankruptcies.
Froma Harrop: New York Puts Trump in Rearview (Creators Syndicate)
Trump recently moved his official permanent residence from New York to Florida. Saving taxes is the reason often put forward for the move. But another is the reality that Trump has no path for returning to Gotham as anything but a loathed figure.
Mark Shields: Will Democrats in 2020 Again 'Fall in Love'? (Creators Syndicate)
Democrats have been far less predictable and, seemingly, more emotional in selecting their presidential standard-bearers. While Republican voters, until quite recently, have predictably "fallen in line" by promoting the most recent runner-up, Democrats instead seem to want to "fall in love." Democrats have a marked preference for the "new face" over those who have run before.
First appearing on Saturday Night Live in 1976, this clay figurine clown's main adversaries were Mr. Hands & Sluggo. What is the name of this clay character?
Mr. Bill is a clay figurine clown star of a parody of children's clay animation shows, created by Walter Williams. Mr. Bill got its start on Saturday Night Live as a series Super 8 film sent in response to the show's request for home movies during the first season. Mr. Bill's first appearance occurred on the February 28, 1976, episode. After five submitted films, Williams became a full-time writer for the show in 1978, and would ultimately write more than 20 sketches based on Mr. Bill.
Each Mr. Bill episode would start innocently enough but would quickly turn dangerous for Mr. Bill. Along with his dog, Spot, he would suffer various indignities inflicted by "Mr. Hands," a man seen only as a pair of hands (originally performed by Vance DeGeneres).
Sometimes the abuse would ostensibly come from the mean Sluggo, another clay character. The violence would inevitably escalate, generally ending with Mr. Bill being crushed or dismembered while squealing in a high-pitched voice, "Ohhhh noooooooooooooo...". The concept for Mr. Hands came from Williams' observation that children's cartoons in the 70s were so static, he expected the artist's hands to enter the screen at any moment and physically start moving the drawings around.
Source
Mark. was first, and correct, with:
Mr. Bill.
mj wrote:
Ooooooh Nooooo
It's Mr. Bill. None of the episodes ended well for him.
Alan J answered:
Mr. Bill.
Stephen F said:
Mr. Bill
Randall replied:
Mr. Bill
Mac Mac responded:
Mr. Bill
Harry M. said:
Mr. Bill
Roy, the Libtard Snowflake in Tyler, TX wrote:
Oh Nooooooooooo! I'm officially old enough to remember poor Mr. Bill from those early SNLs in the '70s. The poor fella always started out innocently enough, but he'd always fall victim to Mr. Hands or Sluggo, but even his own dog sometimes turned on him too.
Dave responded:
Mr. Bill. A clay figurine (Play Doh?). During SNL's first season the producers requested home movies from viewers and a Super 8 film was sent by viewer Walter Williams and made a 1976 broadcast. Later Williams was hired as a writer for SNL and moved to New York. There were over 20 Mr. Bill sketches on SNL, the last in the '81-'82 season.
Photos: main clay figurines, usually joined by a pair of real human hands | first season cast of SNL | second season of SNL after the departure of Chevy Chase for film work and the addition of new cast member, 1st season SNL writer, Bill Murray.
Kevin K. in Washington, DC, replied:
Mr. Bill
Kenn B said:
Mr. Bill
zorch wrote:
Mr. Bill.
Micki answered:
Mr. Bill. Oh no!
Dave in Tucson replied:
Ooooo! Ooooo! I know! It's none other than the incomparable Mr. Bill!
Michelle in AZ responded:
Mr Bill
- pgw @ nor cal. said:
Oh, Nooooooo.
Rosemary in Columbus wrote:
It is Mr. Bill. OH NO!!
Jim from CA, retired to ID, answered:
Mr Bill
DJ Useo replied:
Mr. Bill. Dark comedy, but funny anyway. Like the impeachment inquiry.
Billy in Cypress U$A responded:
It's my nickname: Mister Bill
Barbara, of Peppy Tech fame wrote:
The answer is Mr. Bill.
Cal in Vermont took the day off.
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Paul of Seattle took the day off.
Jon L took the day off.
Saskplanner took the day off.
Leo in Boise took the day off.
George M. took the day off.
David of Moon Valley took the day off.
Gary took the day off.
Doug in Albuquerque took the day off.
Ed K took the day off.
Peter W took the day off.
John I from Hawai`i took the day off.
MarilynofTC took the day off.
Brian S. took the day off.
Steve in Wonderful Sacramento, CA, took the day off.
Gateway Mike 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.
~~~~~
Pakistan does not produce the most bagpipes in the world, at least not according to the BBC.
The bagpipe business is thriving in Pakistan, with the instrument proving popular to play as well as being a successful export.
Not only are bagpipe and drum bands a common sight in the country, but Pakistan is now the second biggest bagpipe-producing country in the world.
Only Scotland creates more of the instruments for the world market.
Music: "Blues Instrumental" from the album TORREJÓN DE ARDOZ
Artist: Católicos Sin Complejos
Artist Location: Guadalajara, Spain
Info: "Grupo de Rock & Blues Cristiano Catolico de Guadalajara. C.S.C. van dando guerra e intentando llevar la paz y el mensaje del Maestro allá donde Él quiera llevarles y hasta cuando Él quiera, que para eso se creó este grupo." - Católicos Sin Complejos
Translated by Google Translate: "Rock & Blues Group Cristiano Catolico de Guadalajara. C.S.C. they are waging war and trying to bring peace and the message of the Master wherever He wants to take them and as long as He wants, that this group was created for that."
This group has other FREE music on Bandcamp.
Price: FREE download; you can't pay for it even if you want to.
Genre: Blues Instrumental with some Spanish language
• Whoopi Goldberg has had excellent success as an actress. When Stephen Spielberg told her that he wanted her to make her film-acting debut in his movie The Color Purple, she was happy. In fact, she says, "My teeth caught cold 'cause all I could do was grin." However, she did have to think about appearing in the movie. At first, she thought that Mr. Spielberg wanted her to play a small role, but instead he wanted her to play a major role. But she did not think about it for long. She realized that this was Mr. Spielberg wanting her to be in his movie, so she thought, Wake up, stupid. Say yes. She did say yes, and she was nominated for the Best Actress Oscar but did not win. Later, she was nominated for a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her performance in Ghost - and won. In her acceptance speech, she said that she had been practicing making an acceptance speech for an Oscar since she was a little girl, and she joked, "My brother's sitting out there, saying, 'Thank god, we don't have to listen to her anymore.'"
• On The Drew Carey Show, Mimi Bobeck, played by Kathy Kinney, became a breakout character and Ms. Kinney became a major co-star, although Mimi was originally conceived as a minor character. Mimi, known for her outrageous makeup and clothing and hatred for all things Drew, owes a lot to Ms. Kinney, who is able to make funny many actions that seem to lack funniness. For example, in one scene, she had to obey the direction, Mimi hands an envelope to Drew. But instead of merely handing the envelope to Drew, first Ms. Kinney coughed on it. Ms. Kinney says, "In that moment, Mimi was born."
• Actresses sometimes have love scenes in movies, and some actresses find these scenes difficult to do. Ellen DeGeneres once was asked to do a lesbian love scene with Sharon Stone in an Anne Hecht-directed segment of HBO's If These Walls Could Talk 2. Ms. DeGeneres at first did not want to do the scene, but she gave in after Ms. Hecht pointed out, "I've made out with some weasels [on film], and I got you Sharon Stone!"
• When Chris Rock made the movie Nurse Betty with veteran actor Morgan Freeman, he would sometimes overact. Mr. Freeman had an interesting way of showing Mr. Rock that he was overacting: Mr. Freeman would overact, too, and Mr. Rock knew that he had to start acting instead of overacting.
Ad-Libs
• Back when vaudeville was alive and well, Eddie Cantor and George Jessel were performing together. Mr. Cantor made an ad-lib that got a big laugh, and then Mr. Jessel made an ad-lib that got an even bigger laugh. Not knowing anything to say to get a bigger laugh than Mr. Jessel, Mr. Cantor took off a shoe and hit Mr. Jessel on the head with it. Upset, in part because of the huge laugh that Mr. Cantor had gotten by hitting him, Mr. Jessel started complaining to the audience, "Ladies and gentlemen, this so-called grown-up man, whom I have the misfortune to be working with, is so lacking in decorum, breeding, and intelligence, that when he was unable to think of a clever retort he had to descend to the lowest form of humor by taking off his shoe and striking me on the head. Only an insensitive oaf would sink so low." Mr. Cantor had the perfect response to Mr. Jessel's speech. He hit Mr. Jessel on the head with his shoe again.
• Being an insult comedian has its advantages. Comedians Don Rickles and Joan Rivers performed together in Miami, Florida. A Florida judge asked, "Mr. Rickles, why don't you come have lunch and play golf tomorrow?" If he had asked Ms. Rivers, she would have politely replied, "Oh, I'm so sorry. I have a prior family engagement and I can't get out of it, but thank you." Mr. Rickles, on the other hand, is an insult comedian, so he replied, "Listen: One, I'm leaving town. Two, you're a putz. You're loud, obnoxious, incredibly boring, and I wouldn't play golf with you because I don't live here and you couldn't fix a ticket. No." What was the judge's response to being insulted by a famous insult comedian? He laughed.
CBS starts the night with '60 Minutes', followed by a FRESH'God Friended Me', then a FRESH'NCIS: The Expendable One', followed by a FRESH'Madam Secretary'.
NBC fills the night with LIVE'Sunday Night Football', then pads the left coast with local crap and maybe an old 'Dateline'.
ABC begins the night with a FRESH'America's So-Called Funniest Home Videos', followed by a FRESH'Kids Say The Darndest Things', then a FRESH'Shark Tank', followed by a FRESH'The Rookie'.
The CW offers a FRESH'Batwoman', followed by a FRESH'Supergirl'.
Faux has a RERUN'The Simpsons', followed by a RERUN'Bob's Burgers', then a FRESH'The Simpsons', followed by a FRESH'Bless The Harts', then a FRESH'Bob's Burgers', followed by a FRESH'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'.
A&E has the movie 'Journey 2: The Mysterious Island', followed by the movie 'Godzilla', then the movie 'American Sniper'.
AMC offers 'The Walking Dead', another 'The Walking Dead', followed by a FRESH'The Walking Dead', then a FRESH'Talking Dead'.
BBC -
[6:00AM] PLANET EARTH: MISSION GALAPAGOS - SEASON 1 - EPISODE 2-Secrets of the Deep
[7:00AM] PLANET EARTH: MISSION GALAPAGOS - SEASON 1 - EPISODE 3-Future Frontiers
[8:00AM] HIDDEN HABITATS - SEASON 1 - EPISODE 2-Serengeti
[8:15AM] VERTICAL LIMIT (2000)
[11:00AM] CLIFFHANGER (1993)
[1:00PM] FIRST BLOOD (1982)
[3:00PM] RAMBO: FIRST BLOOD PART II (1985)
[5:00PM] RAMBO III (1988)
[7:15PM] FIRST BLOOD (1982)
[9:15PM] RAMBO: FIRST BLOOD PART II (1985)
[11:15PM] RAMBO III (1988)
[1:30AM] CLIFFHANGER (1993)
[3:30AM] DOCTOR WHO: THE RETURN OF DOCTOR MYSTERIO
[5:00AM] STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION - SEASON 7 - EPISODE 2-Liaisons (ALL TIMES EST)
Bravo has 'Real Housewives Of Atlanta', followed by a FRESH'Real Housewives Of Atlanta', then a FRESH'Married To Medicine', followed by a FRESH'Watch What Happens Live'.
Comedy Central has the movie 'Wedding Crashers', followed by the movie 'Zoolander'.
FX has the movie 'Spider-Man: Homecoming', followed by a FRESH'The Weekly', and another 'The Weekly'.
History has 'American Pickers', followed by a FRESH'American Pickers: Bonus Buys'.
IFC -
[5:45A] Drillbit Taylor
[8:15A] The Longest Yard
[10:45A] Walking Tall
[12:30P] We Were Soldiers
[3:30P] Road to Perdition
[6:00P] GoodFellas
[9:15P] GoodFellas
[12:30A] We Were Soldiers
[3:30A] Star Trek: First Contact (ALL TIMES EST)
Sundance -
[6:03am] Law & Order
[7:02am] Law & Order
[8:01am] Law & Order
[9:00am] The Last Samurai
[12:30pm] Gladiator
[4:00pm] Saving Private Ryan
[8:00pm] The Outlaw Josey Wales
[10:14pm] Pale Rider
[12:45am] Dances With Wolves
[4:45am] Love Lust - Love Lust & Chocolate
[5:00am] M*A*S*H
[5:30am] M*A*S*H (ALL TIMES EST)
SyFy has the movie 'Captain America: Civil War', followd by the movie 'Guardians Of The Galaxy'.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Elizabeth Warren are defending Taylor Swift in the singer's claim that she is being prevented from performing her own hit songs.
Representative Ocasio-Cortez spoke out on Twitter Friday regarding Swift's statements that Big Machine Label Group founder Scott Borchetta and partner Scooter Braun are impeding her November 24th performance at the American Music Awards, where she will receive the Artist of the Decade award.
Swift claims in part that the pair, who own recordings from her first six studio albums, are not allowing her to play those songs, both at the show and in an upcoming Netflix documentary. However, Big Machine said in a Friday statement that Swift's claims were based on "false information."
"This is WRONG. Neither of these men had a hand in the writing of those songs. They did nothing to create the relationship I have with my fans…I just want to be able to perform MY OWN music," Swift tweeted in part. She also called out the private equity firm the Carlyle Group, which according to the New York Times, invested in Braun's company Ithaca Holdings, "who put up money for the sale of my music to these two men."
Warren joined in on Saturday, tweeting that Swift is "one of many whose work has been threatened by a private equity firm," connecting it to her presidential campaign.
The Joker, starring Joaquin Phoenix in the titular role, has surpassed $1 billion in gross sales at box offices world wide, Entertainment Weekly reports. The milestone makes the blockbuster the first R-rated movie to hit the $1 billion mark, according to the outlet.
It also means that the movie, which tells the tale of the rise of Batman's arch-nemesis, has now officially beat out Deadpool as the highest-grossing R-rated movie of all time. The Ryan Reynolds-stared film made $783 million.
It racked up $93.5 million in its first weekend on wide release, EW reported, giving it the highest October opening weekend ever. It also brought in $737.5 million in its first three weekends alone after coming out on October 4.
The movie, directed by Todd Phillips, earned critical acclaim at its debut at the Venice Film Festival in late August - it won the Golden Lion award at the festival - and was again applauded at the Toronto International Film Festival in September.
For classic The Simpsons, 16:9, the default widescreen viewing ratio, is not the most cromulent option. In fact, it's a pretty bad one.
But it's the option that shipped with Disney Plus, much to the consternation of classic Groening fans everywhere. The problem is simple: the widescreen cropping, which has been an ongoing problem for those wanting to watch The Simpsons in a worthy fashion, is a pretty shoddy job. The first 19 seasons of the show were created and shown in 4:3 resolution, initially, and the widescreen crop literally crops out part of the picture. And, as any Simpsons fan knows, that picture contains a lot of intricate background gags that are presently just entirely missing from the Disney Plus version of the show.
For those hoping that Disney Plus might play some role in helping to preserve Disney's now vast, vast library of old media, it's a disconcerting start. And for The Simpsons fans, it's unacceptable, and after a well-publicized media backlash, Disney has finally responded in classic corporate fashion, with a correction that fails to admit that anything was actually wrong in the first place.
For Disney Plus, this is hopefully a valuable lesson. Being able to view media the way it was intended to be viewed matters, and not just to historians and critics. Especially when there are jokes about Duff beer and Itchy and Scratchy on the line.
Two female writers quit the freshman CBS sitcom Carol's Second Act after allegations were leveled against executive producer David Hunt, who is married to series star Patricia Heaton.
According to The New York Times, writer Broti Gupta alleged that Hunt touched her inappropriately on two separate occasions. The first incident occurred at a cast and crew dinner in August, when Hunt allegedly hugged Gupta twice from the side, then complimented her pants and ran his hand up the side of her thigh. Later that night, Gupta discussed the incident with her boyfriend, fellow TV scribe Greg Gallant, and actress Dylan Gelula, who confirmed their conversations with the Times.
Weeks later, on the set of the Carol's Second Act, Gupta was seated in a chair next to co-executive producer Margee Magee. Hunt, who was supposedly looking for something, approached Gupta, took her by the shoulders and jerked her forward - at which point Magee leapt up from her own chair and said, "Excuse me." Hunt did not respond.
Following the on-set occurrence, Gupta told Magee about the initial inappropriate touching. Magee went with Gupta to discuss the matter with showrunners Sarah Haskins and Emily Halpern, who subsequently reported the allegations to CBS Television Studios. During a follow-up meeting with an HR exec, Gupta was adamant that she did not want Hunt kicked off the show, but instead educated on harassment.
The following week, Gupta and Magee learned that they were barred from the sitcom's rehearsal because the previous run-throughs were "too chaotic." They were also informed that they would no longer be able to run revised jokes by Haskins and Halpern on tape night. Both Gupta and Magee believed that the changes were put in place to separate them from Hunt, while a letter from the showrunners' attorney claimed that those changes were decided upon before Gupta's complaint.
Anti-racism campaigners held protests in cities across the Netherlands on Saturday as Dutch children hailed the annual arrival of St. Nicholas and a blackface character who traditionally accompanies him.
Parades in many cities were marked by a large police presence, after scuffles between groups who see "Black Pete" as racist and those who cherish the character as a fun holiday tradition led to arrests last year.
Usually portrayed by white people in black face paint wearing frizzy wigs and prominent red lipstick, Black Pete has sparked intense discussion -- and sometimes violent clashes -- in recent years.
In Dutch folklore, St. Nicholas travels once a year from Spain on a steamboat laden with presents. The appearance of his sidekick derives from a 19th century story by children's author Jan Schenkman that was illustrated with pictures of a dark-skinned Spanish Moor.
A series of howls and shrieks recorded in the Canadian wilderness have left a hunter and government biologists searching for explanations.
Gino Meekis was out hunting grouse with his wife and grandson in the forests of north-western Ontario - more than 50km from the closest town - when they heard a series of eerie noises in the distance.
"When it let out the first scream, I thought it was a moose, but my mind changed when it screamed again and again," Meekis told Vice.
A resident of Sioux Lookout, Meekis is an avid hunter and has grown accustomed to the sights and sounds of the region. Moose, black bears and wolves are relatively common sights in the backcountry.
"I've heard many different animals in the wild but nothing like this. I grew up hunting with my grandfather for the first 12 years of my life," he said.
Some migratory whooping cranes from Wisconsin are back at a national wildlife refuge in Alabama.
For the second year in a row, a wild-hatched crane known as W7-17 was the first to arrive on the 670-mile (1,080-kilometer) flight southward to the Wheeler National Wildlife Refuge in Decatur, the International Crane Foundation said Friday.
The 2-year-old female arrived last weekend and 13 others have followed, tracking devices and other reports show. The cranes are among about 100 in a flock that were taught to migrate from Wisconsin to Florida by following ultralight aircraft. More are likely to arrive in coming weeks, supervisory ranger Teresa Adams said in a telephone interview Friday.
Some will spend the winter there; others will fly on to Florida.
Whooping cranes are among the world's largest and rarest birds. About 850 of the birds are alive today, all descended from 15 that lived in coastal Texas in the 1940s. The adults, about 5 feet (1.5 meters) tall, are white with red caps, black mustaches and black wingtips. Juveniles are mottled brown and white.
Life for dinosaurs living at the South Pole wouldn't have been easy. Sure, it wasn't the icy hellscape it is today, but the long, dark winters still would have been frosty. Now, we have a better idea of how at least some of these animals stayed warm.
A team of scientists from Slovakia, Sweden, Australia, and the US has analysed fossils representing an array of feathers grown by dinosaurs and birds that once lived within the southern polar circle.
While hints of lush feathery dinosaurs have popped up in the fossil record here and there, most examples come from the Northern Hemisphere, representing an array of coverings that could have helped Mesozoic wildlife regulate their temperatures, hide, and occasionally even glide in relatively warm climates.
That's not to say we're yet to find a single feather fossil in the Southern Hemisphere. A dig site in Australia's southern state of Victoria has given up a few notable examples over the decades. They've just never been looked at closely until now.
Alternative facts are spreading like a virus across society. Now, it seems they have even infected science - at least the quantum realm. This may seem counter intuitive. The scientific method is after all founded on the reliable notions of observation, measurement and repeatability. A fact, as established by a measurement, should be objective, such that all observers can agree with it.
But in a paper recently published in Science Advances, we show that, in the micro-world of atoms and particles that is governed by the strange rules of quantum mechanics, two different observers are entitled to their own facts. In other words, according to our best theory of the building blocks of nature itself, facts can actually be subjective.
Observers are powerful players in the quantum world. According to the theory, particles can be in several places or states at once - this is called a superposition. But oddly, this is only the case when they aren't observed. The second you observe a quantum system, it picks a specific location or state - breaking the superposition. The fact that nature behaves this way has been proven multiple times in the lab - for example, in the famous double slit experiment.
In 1961, physicist Eugene Wigner proposed a provocative thought experiment. He questioned what would happen when applying quantum mechanics to an observer that is themselves being observed. Imagine that a friend of Wigner tosses a quantum coin - which is in a superposition of both heads and tails - inside a closed laboratory. Every time the friend tosses the coin, they observe a definite outcome. We can say that Wigner's friend establishes a fact: the result of the coin toss is definitely head or tail.
Wigner doesn't have access to this fact from the outside, and according to quantum mechanics, must describe the friend and the coin to be in a superposition of all possible outcomes of the experiment. That's because they are "entangled" - spookily connected so that if you manipulate one you also manipulate the other. Wigner can now in principle verify this superposition using a so-called "interference experiment" - a type of quantum measurement that allows you to unravel the superposition of an entire system, confirming that two objects are entangled.
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said:
has returned to semi-retired status.
In memory.
