Lucy Mangan: "Review of 'Gore Vidal: The United States of Amnesia' (Guardian)
As long as you are at peace with the fact that a documentary made by a friend of the subject's nephew and executive produced by that nephew is probably not going to be a forensic examination of the man's dark side or give the same attention to his critics as it does to his admirers, Gore Vidal: The United States of Amnesia (Sky Arts 1) was 90 minutes of pure joy.
Nacre also known as mother of pearl, is an organic-inorganic composite material produced by some molluscs as an inner shell layer; it is also what makes up the outer coating of pearls. It is strong, resilient, and iridescent.
Nacre is found in some of the more ancient lineages of bivalves, gastropods, and cephalopods. However, the inner layer in the great majority of mollusc shells is porcellaneous, not nacreous, and this usually results in a non-iridescent shine, or more rarely in non-nacreous iridescence such as flame structure as is found in conch pearls.
The outer layer of pearls and the inside layer of pearl oyster and freshwater pearl mussel shells are made of nacre. Other mollusc families that have a nacreous inner shell layer include marine gastropods such as the Haliotidae, the Trochidae and the Turbinidae.
Source
Alan J was first, and correct, with:
Mother Of Pearl
Charlie said:
Mother of pearl.
I think I still have a very old abalone shell around here somewhere.
mj wrote:
The beauty and bane of the abalone
Mother of pearl.
Jim from CA, retired to ID, responded:
Nacre, also known as mother of pearl, is an organic-inorganic composite material produced by some molluscs as an inner shell layer; it is also what makes up the outer coating of pearls
Randall said:
Boy, Marty, you got me.
I haven't a clue.
MAM wrote:
Mother of Pearl ~ An organic-inorganic composite material produced by some molluscs as an inner shell layer. It is strong, resilient, and iridescent.
Deborah took the day off.
Dale of Diamond Springs, Norfallcali took the day off.
As you all know the untimely passing of Terry was unexpected, even by
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CBS starts the night with '60 Minutes', followed by a FRESH'Madam Secretary', then a FRESH'The Good Wife', followed by a FRESH'CSI: The Original One'.
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 the FRESH'American Music Awards Pre-Game', followed by the FRESH'2014 American Music Awards'.
The CW offers a RERUN'Celebrity Name Game', followed by another RERUN'Celebrity Name Game', then an old 'Friends', followed by another old 'Friends', then 2½ hours of what passes for local news and other fluffery.
Faux has a RERUN'The Simpsons', followed by a FRESH'Mulaney', then a FRESH'The Simpsons', followed by a FRESH'Brooklyn Nine-Nine', then a RERUN'Family Guy', followed by a FRESH'Bob's Burgers'.
MY has 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 3 hours of old 'Duck Dynasty', followed by a FRESH'Dogs Of War'.
AMC offers 'The Walking Dead', another 'The Walking Dead', followed by a FRESH'The Walking Dead', then a FRESH'Talking Dead'.
BBC -
[6:00AM] Orphan Black - Season 2 - Ep 3 - Mingling Its Own Nature With It
[7:00AM] Orphan Black - Season 2 - Ep 4 - Governed As It Were By Chance
[8:00AM] Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares UK - Season 4 - Ep 6 - The Granary
[9:00AM] Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares US - Season 2 - Ep 4 - Black Pearl
[10:00AM] Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares US - Season 3 - Ep 11 - Fleming
[11:00AM] Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares US - Season 4 - Ep 5 - DownCity
[12:00PM] Top Gear - Season 9 - Episode 2
[1:00PM] Top Gear - Season 9 - Episode 3
[2:00PM] Top Gear - Season 9 - Episode 4
[3:00PM] Top Gear: Ambitious But Rubbish-Episode 6
[4:00PM] Star Trek: The Next Generation - Season 3 - Ep 4 - Who Watches the Watcher
[5:00PM] Star Trek: The Next Generation - Season 3 - Ep 5 - The Bonding
[6:00PM] Star Trek: The Next Generation - Season 3 - Ep 6 - Booby Trap
[7:00PM] Sherlock - Season 1-Ep 3 - The Great Game NEW
[9:00PM] Atlantis - Season 2 - Ep 2 - A New Dawn (Part 2) NEW
[10:00PM] The Graham Norton Show - Season 14 - Episode 1
[11:00PM] Sherlock - Season 1-Ep 3 - The Great Game
[1:00AM] Atlantis - Season 2 - Ep 2 - A New Dawn (Part 2)
[2:00AM] The Graham Norton Show - Season 14 - Episode 1
[3:00AM] Star Trek: The Next Generation - Season 3 - Ep 4 - Who Watches the Watchers
[4:00AM] Star Trek: The Next Generation - Season 3 - Ep 5 - The Bonding
[5:00AM] Star Trek: The Next Generation - Season 3 - Ep 6 - Booby Trap (ALL TIMES EST)
Bravo has 'Real Housewives Of Atlanta', followed by a FRESH'Real Housewives Of Atlanta', then a (R) of the same episode 'Real Housewives Of Atlanta', and another 'Real Housewives Of Atlanta'.
Comedy Central has 'Futurama', another 'Futurama', still another 'Futurama', yet another 'Futurama', 'South Park', another 'South Park', still another 'South Park', yet another 'South Park', and still another 'South Park'.
FX has the movie 'Total Recall', followed by the movie 'Looper', then the movie 'Looper', again.
IFC -
[6:00AM] THE BIRTHDAY BOYS-GETTING PREACHY
[6:30AM] DANCE OF THE DEAD
[8:15AM] BATMAN-THE JOKER'S EPITAPH
[8:48AM] BATMAN-CATWOMAN GOES TO COLLEGE
[9:21AM] BATMAN-BATMAN DISPLAYS HIS KNOWLEDGE
[9:54AM] BATMAN-A PIECE OF THE ACTION
[10:27AM] BATMAN-BATMAN'S SATISFACTION
[11:00AM] CLERKS II
[1:15PM] FRAILTY
[3:45PM] SCREAM 2
[6:00PM] THE LAST EXORCISM
[8:00PM] APOCALYPTO
[11:00PM] APOCALYPTO
[2:00AM] THE LAST EXORCISM
[4:00AM] COMEDY BANG! BANG!-CHRIS HARDWICK WEARS A BLACK POLO & WEATHERED BOOTS
[4:30AM] COMEDY BANG! BANG!-AMBER TAMBLYN WEARS A LEATHER JACKET & BLACK BOOTIES
[5:00AM] THE BIRTHDAY BOYS-LOVE DATE HUMP
[5:30AM] THE BIRTHDAY BOYS-GETTING PREACHY (ALL TIMES EST)
Sundance -
[6:00AM] Tenderness
[8:15AM] V for Vendetta
[11:00AM] Cocktail
[1:15PM] For Your Consideration
[3:00PM] Best in Show
[5:00PM] Sideways
[7:45PM] Groundhog Day
[10:00PM] The Princess Bride
[12:15AM] The Princess Bride
[2:30AM] Groundhog Day
[4:45AM] Love Lust-Love, Lust & Power Couples
[5:45AM] Love Lust-Love Lust & the Bikini (ALL TIMES EST)
SyFy has the movie 'The Cabin In The Woods', followed by the movie 'Thir13en Ghosts', then 'Spartacus: War Of The Damned'.
Actress and host Goldie Hawn (C) poses with actress Rosanna Arquette (L) and comedian Kathy Griffin at the inaugural "Goldie's Love In for Kids" benefit event in Beverly Hills, California November 21, 2014.
Photo by Mario Anzuoni
Like a lot of journalists, ESPN baseball writer Keith Law is an active tweeter. But he hasn't tweeted in the last few days. According to a report from Deadspin, that's because he got into a Twitter fight where he defended science and evolution.
"We're told that it's for loudly and repeatedly defending Charles Darwin from transitional fossil Curt Schilling, his Bristol colleague," Barry Petchesky reported. "A source tells us he'll be allowed back on Twitter on Monday."
ESPN has confirmed and obliquely refuted parts Deadspin's report, explaining that Law was indeed suspended, but the network did not give a reason to why Law was suspended.
Law got into an argument on Twitter with his colleague Curt Schilling. Schilling, a former pitcher, has been on a Twitter tear, talking about national stories like Ferguson and religion. Around a week ago, Schilling went on a rant about how he doesn't believe in evolution, and Law responded by pointing him to various scientific pieces of evidence for evolution.
We don't know the implications of Law's suspension, but it's not hard to wonder if ESPN is choosing sides. Schilling hasn't been suspended (he tweeted about Ferguson police tonight), even though both were partaking in the debate. So if you're wondering why so many people are upset with Law's suspension, you can start there. To many, it seems as if ESPN has picked the side of creationists in this debate.
John McLaughlin, an English guitarist and leading jazz musician, performs in the Universal Hall in Skopje, Macedonia, Saturday, Nov. 22, 2014. McLaughlin performed Saturday with his 4th Dimension fusion quartet.
Photo by Boris Grdanoski
Bert Lahr's Cowardly Lion costume from the classic film "The Wizard of Oz" is up for sale.
The costume will be auctioned with other Hollywood items Monday in New York by Bonhams, according to a spokesman for costume owner James Comisar.
The big cat outfit has been authenticated as the one Lahr wore in the 1939 film, according to a Bonhams' sales catalogue. It is topped by a sculpted likeness of the late actor.
A secondary costume used in the film was sold at auction in recent years for close to $1 million, the owner's spokesman said.
James Cagney's best actor Oscar statuette for the 1942 musical film "Yankee Doodle Dandy" went unsold at auction in Los Angeles, in a rare offering of film's top award.
Auction house Nate D. Sanders said on Friday they were attempting to secure a private sale of the gold statuette, which is currently owned by a private collector.
Bidding in the Thursday night auction started at $800,000 and the auction house had said they believed bidding could surpass $1 million.
Singer Patti Smith presents the 2014 Humane Filmmaker Award to Darren Aronofsky during The Humane Society of the United States To the Rescue! New York benefit gala and 60th anniversary celebration, Friday, Nov. 21, 2014 in New York. Darren Aronofsky, Gus Kenworthy and Brad Goldberg were honored at the event.
Photo by John Minchillo
Researchers have deciphered an ancient Egyptian handbook, revealing a series of invocations and spells.
Among other things, the "Handbook of Ritual Power," as researchers call the book, tells readers how to cast love spells, exorcise evil spirits and treat "black jaundice," a bacterial infection that is still around today and can be fatal.
The book is about 1,300 years old, and is written in Coptic, an Egyptian language. It is made of bound pages of parchment - a type of book that researchers call a codex.
The ancient book "starts with a lengthy series of invocations that culminate with drawings and words of power," they write. "These are followed by a number of prescriptions or spells to cure possession by spirits and various ailments, or to bring success in love and business."
CityCenter was supposed to be the next great Las Vegas megaresort when it was completed in December 2009. But less than five years after it was completed one of the property's most visible towers is being taken down piece by piece because it's a danger to public safety.
MGM Resorts and Dubai World, who jointly own CityCenter, discovered halfway through construction that Harmon Tower at the front entrance of the $8.5 billion resort is structurally unsound. The tower is at the middle of a $400 million lawsuit between the owners and builder Tutor Perini even as the tower is taken apart piece by piece.
It's potentially the biggest mistake in Las Vegas' history given the fact that Harmon never generated a dollar of revenue. Now it won't even be given the chance.
The initial problem discovered at Harmon Tower was rebar that was misplaced within 15 floors of the building, weakening the entire structure. A large slab of concrete won't support even its own weight on its own so concrete is included in the middle of the structure to hold the concrete together. But if it's placed too high or two low in a floor it won't hold it together, it'll weaken the whole structure.
After the problem was discovered, the plan was to cut the building's height from 47 stories to 28, but testing by structural engineering firm Chukwuma Ekwueme discovered over 7,000 defects. By the time testing was completed, which included pulling out samples, the building wasn't even salvageable.
Ivan Timofeenko, co-founder of "Newton Park", a private interactive museum of science, dumps a bucket of cold liquid nitrogen on himself during a flash mob at the Krasnoyarsk Museum Centre in Krasnoyarsk, Siberia, November 20, 2014. Timofeenko and several other enthusiasts poured cold liquid nitrogen on themselves, bearing the temperature of about minus 196 degrees Celsius (minus 320.8 degrees Fahrenheit), while taking part in an event resembling the popular "Ice Bucket Challenge" project and aimed at the popularization of natural sciences among children and teenagers. The experiment demonstrated the Leidenfrost effect phenomenon, in which a liquid produces a layer of insulating vapour that prevents the liquid getting into a direct contact with a surface much hotter than the liquid's boiling point, according to organizers.
Photo by Ilya Naymushin
For better than two millennia, politicians have invoked classical Greek and Roman literature to construct, defend, and challenge ideologies of power. On Thursday, November 20, Senator Ted Cruz channeled his inner Cicero and delivered his own rendition of "In Catilinam (Against Catiline)" to denounce President Obama's planned executive actions on immigration reform. "The words of Cicero-powerfully relevant 2,077 years later," said Cruz, who adapted Cicero's text to fit his 21st-century American context. In quoting Cicero, Cruz reached back to Harry Truman and Thomas Jefferson, who also were avid readers of the Roman philosopher, statesman, and orator.
As a classics professor, I am on one level pleased to see the legacy of Greco-Roman antiquity alive and well, informing debate around our most pressing issues. The problem is that Cruz dangerously misused Cicero. A deeper look at the speech Cruz adapted shows that the senator not only accused the president of overstepping the constitutional bounds of his authority (a legally dubious claim), but also challenges the legitimacy of the Obama presidency, accuses the president of treason, and perhaps even advocates for his violent punishment. And in speaking from the position of Cicero, Cruz presents himself as a decidedly undemocratic oligarch. (Cruz's speech can be read in its entirety, alongside an English translation of the Ciceronian original, here.)
Cicero delivered "Against Catiline" to the Roman Senate in 63 B.C., against a background of martial law, high treason, and the specter of civil war. After losing an election to Cicero for Rome's highest office, consul, Catiline conspired to murder Cicero and attempt a coup d'état. The consul discovered the conspiracy, declared martial law, and denounced Catiline to the Senate-a triumph about which Cicero never tired of reminding his peers and readers. (Catiline went into exile and soon after died in battle with the army he had mustered.) The speech is canonized as a rhetorical masterpiece and remains widely taught in Latin curricula today.
Ice skaters in action during the opening of Ice Amsterdam, the annual ice skating rink at the Museumplein square in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 22 November 2014. In the back is the Rijksmuseum, the Dutch national museum.
Photo by Koen Van Weel
The admiral fired last year as No. 2 commander of U.S. nuclear forces may have made his own counterfeit $500 poker chips with paint and stickers to feed a gambling habit that eventually saw him banned from an entire network of casinos, according to a criminal investigative report obtained by The Associated Press.
Although Rear Adm. Timothy M. Giardina's removal as deputy head of U.S. Strategic Command was announced last year, evidence of his possible role in manufacturing the counterfeit chips has not previously been revealed. Investigators said they found his DNA on the underside of an adhesive sticker used to alter genuine $1 poker chips to make them look like $500 chips.
The records obtained by the AP under the Freedom of Information Act show Giardina was a habitual poker player, spending a total of 1,096 hours - or an average of 15 hours per week - at the tables at the Horseshoe casino in Council Bluffs, Iowa, in the 18 months before being caught using three phony chips in June 2013.
He was such a familiar figure at the casino, across the Missouri River from his office near Omaha, Nebraska, that some there knew him as "Navy Tim." But they may not have known he was a three-star admiral and second-in-charge at Strategic Command, the military's nuclear war-fighting headquarters. Strategic Command also plays key roles in missile defense, cyberdefense, space operations and other functions.
A man dressed in a tradtional Perchten costume and mask performs during a Perchten festival in the western Austrian village of Huben November 22, 2014. Each year in November and January people in the western Austria regions dress up in Perchten (also known in some regions as Krampus or Tuifl) costumes and parade through the streets to perform a 1,500 year-old pagan ritual to disperse the ghosts of winter.
Photo by Dominic Ebenbichler
A watercolor of Munich's old city hall believed to have been painted by Adolf Hitler a century ago was sold for 130,000 euros ($162,000) at an auction in Germany on Saturday.
Kathrin Weidler, director of the Weider auction house in Nuremberg, said the work attracted bidders from four continents and went to a buyer from the Middle East. She declined to elaborate.
The painting, which had been expected to fetch at least 50,000 euros, was sold by a pair of elderly sisters whose grandfather purchased it in 1916.
Hitler's paintings surface regularly, but the auction house said the 28-by-22 centimeter (11-by-8.5 inch) scene auctioned Saturday also includes the original bill of sale and a signed letter from Hitler's adjutant, Albert Bormann, brother of the dictator's private secretary Martin Bormann.
From the text of the undated Bormann letter, it appears the Nazi-era owner sent a photo of the painting to Hitler's office asking about its provenance. Bormann wrote that it appears to be "one of the works of the Fuehrer."
A man wearing a hand crafted wooden beast-like mask participates in the 'Krampus' tradition in the village of Boerwang, Germany, 22 November 2014, as a pre-Christmas celebration that takes place in the southern regions of Germany. A Krampus is a folklore demon figure that punishes children who had misbehaved during the Christmas season.
Photo by Karl-Josef Hildenbrand
A female gray wolf from the Northern Rockies traveled hundreds of miles into northern Arizona, marking the species' first appearance in the region in more than 70 years and the farthest journey south, wildlife officials confirmed Friday.
A wolf-like animal had been spotted roaming the North Rim of the Grand Canyon and the adjacent national forest since last month. Biologists collected its scat and sent it to a University of Idaho laboratory for testing, verifying what environmentalists had suspected based on its appearance and a radio collar around its neck.
Biologists don't know the wolf's age or from where it traveled. The radio collar wasn't transmitting a signal, and cold weather forced biologists to suspended efforts to capture the animal and replace the collar.
The Idaho lab might be able to glean more details about the wolf from its DNA, but U.S. Fish and Wildlife spokesman Jeff Humphrey said that could take several weeks or months.
Wolves often roam vast distances in search of food and mates. But the farther they go, the less likely they are to find a mate, said Ed Bangs, who led recovery efforts for wolves in the Northern Rockies over two decades before retiring from the Fish and Wildlife Service in 2011.
A bison walks on the grounds of the Zoologico de Reynosa Wednesday Nov. 20, 2014 in Reynosa, Mexico. The zoo consists of about 150 different species of common and exotic creatures in more than 100 acres of land. The zoos main attraction consists of Coco, a 20-week-old Bengal tiger and a a zonkey, a zebra-donkey hybrid, named Kumba. The zoo is located about half a mile of the Anzalduas International Bridge, across Mission, Texas.
Photo by Gabe Hernandez
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