Mark Morford: "Study: Live happy and healthy and die soon anyway" (SF Gate)
As the marvelous spiritual teacher Adyashanti put it, "There is a very simple secret to being happy. Just let go of your demand on the present moment." What might happen if you do? Have you ever tried it? […] you might, just might, uncover a life of surreptitious, messy, imperfect bliss, shocking and weird, still full of pain and loss, but no longer tormented by it all, no longer endlessly, numbly disappointed for reasons that have no true basis in reality. […] In short: You won't live longer, you'll simply live much, much better. Can you imagine?
Mark Morford: "Jesus in America today: Spit upon, beaten, banned" (SF Gate)
Jesus in America, today? Almost certainly to be shunned, feared, derided. Depending where he wandered, also likely harassed, spit upon, even beaten - that is, if he was allowed into the country at all. Looks quite like a Muslim, you see. Might be an ISIS sympathizer. Definitely radicalized. Got a Facebook feed full of strange proclamations, rapturous interventions, cryptic references to how you're to seek the divine within, silly. Who knows what he might be up to?
Mark Hill: 6 Insane Realities Of Life As A Professional Hand Model (Cracked)
Hand modeling -- or "parts modeling," if you want to call it by its proper, vaguely disturbing name -- is a job you never stop to think about. But, it's all around you: Everything you've ever bought, from your smartphone to your sandwich, was sold to you by somebody using a hand model. So, to find out more, we talked to models Doreen Gordon, Susan Schell, and Adele Uddo, who told us about"the only respectable way to make a living from one hand job to the next."
Kevin Phelan: 5 Awesome Acts Of Revenge That Qualify As Creative Genius (Cracked)
Revenge is a dish best served cold. For most of us, that saying simply means that you shouldn't punch a dude the second he mocks your Animorphs T-shirt; you should wait about a week and then punch him when he least suspects it. It's funnier that way. But, some folks put a hell of a lot more thought into revenge than we do.
A Christmas Carol is a novella by Charles Dickens, first published in London by Chapman & Hall on 19 December 1843. The novella met with instant success and critical acclaim. A Christmas Carol tells the story of a bitter old miser named Ebenezer Scrooge and his transformation into a gentler, kindlier man after visitations by the ghost of his former business partner Jacob Marley and the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Yet to Come.
A Christmas Carol remains popular-having never been out of print-and has been adapted many times to film, stage, opera, and other media.
Dickens divides the book into five chapters, which he labels "staves", that is, song stanzas or verses, in keeping with the title of the book.
Source
Alan J was first and correct with:
Staves.
Randall wrote:
Staves
Dickens divided "A Christmas Carol" into stanzas, or, as he called the, "staves"
like verses of a song.
Get it? A Christmas CAROL? Stanzas?
Oh, he was a clever little dickens...
Jim from CA, retired to ID, said:
Dickens divides the book into five chapters, which he labels "staves", that is, song stanzas or verses, in keeping with the title of the book.
Marian responded:
stave
Dale od Diamondy Sprungs, Norcali replied:
Staves. These ladies are in a band called "The Staves." Never heard of them.
The Ghost Of Lois Past answered:
He called 'em "Staves", based I'm guessing, on the definition "to break by forcing inward or piercing roughly", because poor ole Scrooge was subjected to some pretty rough introspection during that darkest night of the year. He really should have invested his money in some fine microbrews. Would have saved him from a lot of ghosts.
DJ Useo said:
...which he labeled while drinking heavily. Lol.
MAM wrote:
Staves ~ Dickens divides 'A Chriatmas Carol' into five chapters, which he labels "staves", that is, song stanzas or verses, in keeping with the title of the book'A Christmas Carol '. Ghosts of Christmas Past, Prfesent and Future.
Joe S took the day off.
Deborah took the day off.
mj took the day off.
Charlie took the day off.
Sally has retired, but still pays attention.
BttbBob has returned to semi-retired status.
~~~~~
Patriot Act NSA Spying Unconstitutional Section 215 National Security Letters Must End
My name is Marc Perkel and I have decided to announce that I will not comply with the so called "Patriot Act" laws requiring me to disclose information about my customers. If I receive a national security letter I will immediately photograph it, post it online everywhere I can, and then make a video of me burning it. I will then await my arrest. If you want to put me in jail then come get me mother fucker.
CBS opens the night with a FRESH'Big Bang Theory', followed by a FRESH'Life In Pieces', then a FRESH'Mom', followed by a FRESH'2 Broke Girls', then a FRESH'Elementary'.
Scheduled on a FRESHStephen Colbert are Michael Moore, U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Samantha Power, Michael C. Hall, and a performance by the cast of "Lazarus".
Scheduled on a FRESHJames Corden, OBE, are Seth MacFarlane and Lily Tomlin.
NBC begins the night with 'How Murray Saved Christmas', followed by the RERUN'Blake Shelton's Not So Family Christmas', then a FRESH'Running Wild With Bear Grylls'.
Scheduled on a FRESHJimmy Fallon are Bruce Springsteen, Jeffrey Tambor, and Chris Stapleton.
Scheduled on a FRESHSeth Meyers are Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, Ike Barinholtz, Maya Rudolph, Rachel Dratch, Paula Pell, and Ilan Rubin.
Scheduled on a FRESHCarson 'The Scab' Daly are Luke Bracey, Zella Day, and Torres.
ABC starts the night with 'Disney's Prep & Landing', followed by 'Disney's Prep & Landing 2: Naughty Vs. Nice', then a (R) 'Modern Family', followed by the FRESH'Barbara Walters Presents: The 10 Most Fascinating People Of 2015'.
Scheduled on a FRESHJimmy Kimmel are Ryan Seacrest, Giada De Laurentiis, and Gavin James.
The CW offers a FRESH'iHeartRadio (formerly Clear Channel) Jingle Ball 2015', followed by a RERUN'Whose Line Is It Anyway?'.
Faux has the FRESH'American Country Countdown's Top 10 Stories Of 2015', followed by a FRESH'World's Funniest'.
MY has 'TMZ (Not So) Live', followed by 'Hollywood Today (Not So) Live'.
A&E has 'The First 48', another 'The First 48', followed by a FRESH'The First 48', then a FRESH'Nightwatch'.
AMC offers the movie 'A Dennis The Menace Christmas', followed by the movie 'Miracle On 34th Street', then 'A Muppets Christmas: Letters To Santa'.
BBC -
[6:00AM] PLANET EARTH: FROZEN PLANET - SEASON 1, Ep 5 - Deserts
[7:00AM] PLANET EARTH: AFRICA - SEASON 1, Ep 6 - Ice Worlds
[8:00AM] RAMSAY'S KITCHEN NIGHTMARES US - SEASON 7, Ep 8 - Zayna Flaming Grill, Part 2
[9:00AM] DOCTOR WHO - SEASON 1, Ep 6 - Seascape
[10:00AM] DOCTOR WHO - SEASON 7, Ep 9 - Hide
[11:00AM] DOCTOR WHO - SEASON 7, Ep 10 - Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS
[12:00PM] STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION - SEASON 4, Ep 15 - First Contact
[1:00PM] STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION - SEASON 4, Ep 16 - Galaxy's Child
[2:00PM] TOP GEAR: THE PERFECT ROAD TRIP - SEASON 21, EPISODE 1-Part 1
[3:00PM] TOP GEAR: THE PERFECT ROAD TRIP - SEASON 21, EPISODE 2- Part 2
[4:00PM] TOP GEAR: BEST OF 12-13 - SEASON 1, Ep 1 - Lego
[5:00PM] TOP GEAR: THE PERFECT ROAD TRIP: ITALY - SEASON 1, Ep 2 - Slotcar Racetrack
[6:00PM] CASINO ROYALE (2006)
[9:00PM] LUTHER 2015
[11:45PM] CASINO ROYALE (2006)
[2:45AM] LUTHER 2015
[5:30AM] HIDDEN HABITATS - SEASON 1, Ep 8 - Yellowstone (ALL TIMES EST)
Bravo has 'Real Housewives Of BH', followed by a FRESH'Inside The Actors Studio' (Steve Carell), 'Top Chef', followed by a FRESH'Top Chef'.
Comedy Central has an hour old 'South Park', followed by an hour of old 'Tosh.0', then 2 hours of old 'Key & Peele'.
Scheduled on a FRESHThe Daily Show is Will Ferrell.
Scheduled on a FRESH@Midnight are Moshe Kasher, Tom Lennon, and "Weird Al" Yankovic.
FX has the movie 'Dr. Seuss' The Lorax', followed by the movie 'Despicable Me 2'.
History has 2 hours of old 'Pawn Stars', followed by a FRESH'Pawn Stars', then another FRESH'Pawn Stars', and 2 more old 'Pawn Stars'.
IFC -
[6:00AM] COMEDY BANG! BANG!-Simon Helberg
[6:15AM] THE FUGITIVE
[9:15AM] U.S. MARSHALS
[12:00PM] CASINO
[4:00PM] COMMANDO
[6:00PM] WATCHMEN
[9:30PM] TODD MARGARET-The Increasingly Necessary Todd Margaret Recap Special
[10:00PM] TODD MARGARET-Todd's Terrible Day Ends and His Next Terrible Day Begins
[10:30PM] TODD MARGARET-Todd and His Valet Arrive in Leeds and What They Saw There
[11:00PM] THAT '70S SHOW-Van Stock
[11:30PM] THAT '70S SHOW
[12:00AM] THAT '70S SHOW-Sleepover
[12:30AM] THAT '70S SHOW-Eric Gets Suspended
[1:00AM] TODD MARGARET-Todd's Terrible Day Ends and His Next Terrible Day Begins
[1:30AM] TODD MARGARET-Todd and His Valet Arrive in Leeds and What They Saw There
[2:00AM] WATCHMEN
[5:30AM] THAT '70S SHOW-Van Stock (ALL TIMES EST)
Sundance -
[6:00AM] Wall Street
[9:00AM] Backdraft
[12:00PM] The Perfect Storm
[3:00PM] Law & Order-White Lie
[4:00PM] Law & Order-Whiplash
[5:00PM] Law & Order-Judge Dread
[6:00PM] Law & Order-3 Dawg Night
[7:00PM] Law & Order-Prejudice
[8:00PM] Law & Order-The Collar
[9:00PM] Law & Order-Undercovered
[10:00PM] Law & Order-DR 1-102
[11:00PM] Law & Order-Missing
[12:00AM] Law & Order-Access Nation
[1:00AM] Behind the Story With the Paley Center-Modern Family
[2:00AM] Law & Order-Born Again
[3:00AM] Mystic River (ALL TIMES EST)
SyFy has the movie 'The Cabin In The Woods', followed by a FRESH'WWE Steroid SmackDown', then a FRESH'Haven'.
TBS:
Scheduled on a FRESHConan are Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, John Boyega, Daisy Ridley, Oscar Isaac, Adam Driver,Lupita Nyong'o, Gwendoline Christie, and J.J. Abrams.
Front: Professor Stephen Hawking, right, Nobel Prize winner Professor Sir Harry Kroto, left. Rear from left, cosmonaut Alexei Leonov, Richard Dawkins, 'Queen' guitarist and astrophysicist, Brian May, and astrophysicist Professor Garik Israelian, at the announcement of a major new award for science communication commissioned by the science outreach festival STARMUS at a press conference in London, Wednesday, Dec. 16, 2015.
Photo by Frank Augstein
The White House Correspondents' Association said Comedy Central late-night host Larry Wilmore would headline its annual April dinner, which is known for its playful ribbing of both politicians and the news media.
The host of "The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore" will be the main performer at the mixer of Washington's political and media elite, the association said on Wednesday.
Before hosting his own show, Wilmore wrote for NBC's "The Office" and appeared on Comedy Central's "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" as the "senior black correspondent."
Past performers at the event, which has been held for more than eight decades, include Jay Leno, Steven Colbert, Cedric the Entertainer and Conan O'Brien. Last year, "Saturday Night Live" performer Cecily Strong became the fourth woman ever to headline it.
Harrison Ford poses for photographers upon arrival at the European premiere of the film 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens ' in London, Wednesday, Dec. 16, 2015.
Photo by Joel Ryan
Quentin Tarantino is none too happy with Disney this morning, accusing the studio of bullying Hollywood's Arclight theater into reneging on their deal to show the director's "Hateful Eight" in their famed Cinerama Dome -- one of the few theaters already equipped to project films in 70mm -- in order for their "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" to play there for the duration of the holiday season.
"We were gonna play at the Cinerama Dome on the 25th. We were gonna open there and play there exclusively for two weeks. And 'Star Wars' was gonna play the two weeks before us," an audibly upset Tarantino said on "Howard Stern" this morning. "And I grew up in Los Angeles, so I think of the Cinerama Dome as a real big deal and imagine seeing it at the Cinerama Dome. So the thing about it was, Disney, who owns 'Star Wars,' decided 'well, you know what? Maybe we wanna play throughout the entire holiday season.' So we're gonna go to the Cinerama Dome and say that they can't honor their contract with us to show the 'Hateful Eight.'
"And the Arclight people that own the Cinerama Dome, said 'no no, you can't do that. We have a deal with the 'Hateful Eight' people, and showing it in 70[mm]. That's what we do.' We have the 70mm projectors. They didn't have to move them in. That's the thing. We even start off with the Cinerama logo at the beginning [of 'The Hateful Eight']...by the way, ['Star Wars' is] playing at the Cinerama Dome and the Grauman's Chinese Theater, one mile away from each other.
"As of yesterday, Disney came to the Arclight people and said 'no, you are going to play 'Star Wars' in the Cinerama Dome for the entire holiday season, and if you don't, if you honor your deal with the 'Hateful Eight,' we will not allow you to have 'Star Wars,' the biggest movie in the world, we will not allow you to show it at any of your Arclight movie theaters.'"
"They've got the biggest movie in the world We're talking about one effing theater...they are going out of their way to fuck me," he continued.
Two of the most popular male-bonding movies of all time - "Top Gun" and "The Shawshank Redemption" - are being added to the collection of films preserved by the Library of Congress, the library announced Wednesday.
Each year, the library picks 25 movies to preserve for their cultural, historic or artistic importance. The list is always eclectic and, as usual, includes titles that are older, experimental or otherwise obscure.
The film registry, which began in 1989, now includes 675 titles. The library works to ensure that original 35mm negatives will be preserved, either by the library itself or another organization. The library maintains the negatives at its vast audio-visual conservation center built inside a Cold War-era bunker in Culpeper, Virginia.
The oldest film added this year dates to 1894. Known as the "Edison Kinetoscopic Record of a Sneeze" or simply "The Sneeze," the frames were captured by W.K.L. Dickson, who led Thomas Edison's inventor team. Still images were published by Harper's magazine, but it wasn't seen as a movie until 1953.
Another quirky artifact is "The Story of Menstruation," an educational filmstrip sponsored by tampon maker Kimberly-Clark and produced by the Walt Disney Co. Seen by approximately 93 million American women from its 1946 debut until the late 1960s, it was noted for its progressive, science-based approach.
British musician and astrophysicist Brian May holds a medal as he attends a launch event for a new award for science communication, called the Stephen Hawking Medal for Science Communication, in London in Britain December 16, 2015.
Photo by Toby Melville
Michael Jackson's album "Thriller" is still breaking barriers more than 30 years after its release and six years after the pop superstar's death, becoming the first album in history to cross the 30 million mark in U.S. sales, record industry officials said on Wednesday.
"Thriller," released in 1982 and featuring seven hit singles including "Billie Jean," "Beat It" and its title track, had already crossed 20 million copies in U.S. sales by 1984 during its 112th week on Billboard's album chart, according to the Recording Industry Association of America.
"RIAA has awarded gold and platinum records on behalf of the music business for nearly 60 years, but this is the first time an artist has crossed the 30X multi-platinum plateau," RIAA Chairman and Chief Executive Cary Sherman said in a statement.
"Thriller" has also surpassed sales of 100 million copies worldwide, according to the RIAA statement.
The next highest-selling album of all time after "Thriller" is the Eagles' record "Their Greatest Hits 1971-1975," with sales of 29 million, according to the RIAA.
The bill, pre-filed by state Rep. Mia McLeod (D-Columbia), would require men to wait 24 hours between when they receive a prescription for an erectile dysfunction drug and when they could obtain it. Women in South Carolina must wait 24 hours before receiving an abortion. The bill would also require men to get a signed affidavit from a partner confirming he has erectile dysfunction, see a sex therapist and undergo additional health tests, WCBD reported.
Women in South Carolina must receive counseling before they receive an abortion and parents of minors younger than 17 must sign a consent form before an abortion is performed, according to the Guttmacher Institute.
McLeod told WCBD that she doesn't expect the bill to pass, but wants to use it as an opportunity to highlight how difficult it is for women to get an abortion in South Carolina.
"I purposely tried to make it as invasive, as intrusive, as hypocritical, and unnecessary as possible to make the point," she told the station. "I mean, we're in a male-dominated legislature, of course, and I really just want to broaden the discussion and get people thinking about and talking about some of the issues that women face who are seeking legal abortion services in this state."
Lupita Nyong'o, from left, Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, J.J. Abrams, Carrie Fischer, Adam Driver and Harrison Ford pose for photographers upon arrival at the European premiere of the film 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens ' in London, Wednesday, Dec. 16, 2015.
Photo by Joel Ryan
Somewhere between 15 trillion and 51 trillions pieces of plastic litters the world's oceans, a new study has found. That's three to 10 times more plastic than scientists had previously estimated.
The study, led by climate scientist Erik van Sebille at London's Imperial College and coauthored by researchers at non-profit group 5 Gyres, built on the findings of two papers published last year. The scientists tapped every dataset on plastic pollution published since the 1970s and ran the numbers through three computer models
The total weight of small plastic pieces that accumulated in 2014 alone is estimated to be between 93,000 and 236,000 metric tons, "which is only approximately one percent of global plastic waste estimated to enter the ocean" annually, the researchers wrote. The study only focused on microplastics (those less than 200 millimeters in size), and only at microplastic that could be captured by trawling nets pulled along the ocean surface. Thus the researchers' estimates do not count plastic waste that ends up sinking to the ocean floor or is ingested by fish and other marine species.
Each American throws away as much as 185 pounds of plastic a year. In the last decade, the total weight of plastic products entering the market has risen from 225 million tons in 2004 to 311 million tons in 2014, according to industry group association Plastics Europe.
Fans dressed in costumes poses as he waits for the morning screening of "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" at the Grand Rex cinema in Paris, France, Wednesday, Dec.16, 2015.
Photo by Francois Mori
Greenland's ice sheet melted twice as fast between 2003 and 2010 as it did from 1900 to 1983, according to the first study of Greenland ice loss over the past century that is based on observations rather than models.
Between 1900 and 2010, meltwater from Greenland boosted the global sea level by 25 millimetres, making up 10 to 18 per cent of global sea level rise, reports the new study published today by an international team of researchers, including some in Canada.
Previous estimates have suggested that Greenland contains enough ice to raise world sea levels by about six metres if it all melted - a process that could take thousands of years.
The new study, published Wednesday in Nature, provides the first good estimate of how much Greenland has contributed to sea level rise so far, filling a gap in the last report by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the researchers report.
People walk on a bridge as Christmas lights illuminate the Darsena dei Navigli, the neighborhood named for the canals that run through this area of Milan, Italy, Wednesday, Dec. 16, 2015.
Photo by Antonio Calanni
A tenured political science professor at Wheaton College, an evangelical university outside Chicago, has been suspended after she wrote in a Facebook post that Muslims and Christians worship the same God.
Dr. Larycia Hawkins wrote on the social media site on Dec. 10 that she was donning the hijab head scarf during the period of advent before Christmas as a sign of solidarity with Muslims. In her post she said "we worship the same God."
After that statement drew criticism, the school said Hawkins was on administrative leave.
"In response to significant questions regarding the theological implications of statements that Associate Professor of Political Science Dr. Larycia Hawkins has made about the relationship of Christianity to Islam, Wheaton College has placed her on administrative leave, pending the full review to which she is entitled as a tenured faculty member," said the statement, issued on Tuesday.
Daffodils grow in a Russell Square garden in London, Wednesday, Dec. 16, 2015. The UK could be set for the warmest December in almost 70 years as temperatures of 16C, 60F, around 10C above the average for this time of year. The weather has been so mild that daffodils, normally a symbol of spring, have been begun flowering as far north as Chester and Northern Ireland.
Photo by Frank Augstein
Members of the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, otherwise known as Pastafarians, were granted the right to perform marriage ceremonies in New Zealand.
The approval of the application was reported in the New Zealand Gazette stating that as of Dec. 10 members of the church were granted permission to perform marriage ceremonies.
"We are a bonafide church, and our people do like to get married, some of them several times," she said. "We like to have baptisms and babies and celebrations and divorces and its always nice to have official marriage celebrants preside over these celebrations."
In this image released on Wednesday, Dec. 16, 2015, Tristan, an original Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton goes on show at the Museum of Natural History Berlin from December 17th 2015. The Museum is setting new standards by displaying a T-Rex for the first time in Europe and, at the same time, conducting a large research programme to develop the story of Tristan and the exhibition.
Photo by Carola Radke
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