Joe Bob Briggs: A 20-Hour Flight Can Be FUN! (Taki's Magazine)
Let's look on the bright side of the new 20-hour nonstop flight between New York and Sydney. Personally I don't expect to ever be that desperate to get to Sydney. I'm more likely to fly to El Lay, stay a few days, continue to Maui, spend a few days watching whales, proceed to Fiji and Bora Bora to down some tropical cocktails in a grass hut, then glide into Sydney on a sunny morning just in time to meet with Rupert Murdoch before his afternoon nap.
Alexandri Pettri: "Mick Mulvaney's quid pro quo defense (Updated)" (Washington Post)
You're so naive. To be clear: If I did anything bad (I did) with respect to Ukraine, holding up aid to oblige Ukraine to look into a wild server conspiracy theory I had concocted, if there was a quid pro quo, it was just because - well, why not? Everyone does it. It's the reality of life. Wake up, sheeple. Imagine needing to ask if there were a quid pro quo. Imagine living in a world where there wasn't a quid pro quo all the time! You're SO naive.
Greg Sargent: Internal Democratic poll suggests a way to bleed Trump dry (Washington Post)
The DCCC memo advises incumbents, including in tough districts, to employ the message that Trump "abused his power and put himself above the law." It urges incumbents to "emphasize the core value that no one is above the law," and to stress that supporting the impeachment inquiry is "simply working to uphold the rule of law," while saying that "Republicans who oppose the inquiry are failing to fulfill their oath of office."
Joe Humphreys: How ditching religious faith can set you free (Irish Times)
"It is important also to say we can't blueprint how much free time is enough. But we can create the institutions and forms of education which allow individuals to own the question... Why do you do what you do? 'Well, because I have to earn a salary. Because I have to make a living.' Those are not very good reasons to do something. And the better reasons we have for doing what we do, the more free we are in my sense."
On the Fahrenheit scale, the freezing point of water is 32 degrees Fahrenheit and the boiling point is 212 (at standard atmospheric pressure). This puts the boiling and freezing points of water 180 degrees apart. Therefore, a degree on the Fahrenheit scale is 1/180 of the interval between the freezing point and the boiling point. On the Celsius scale, the freezing and boiling points of water are 100 degrees apart. A temperature interval of 1° Fahrenheit is equal to an interval of 5/9 degrees Celsius. The Fahrenheit and Celsius scales intersect at -40° (i.e., -40 F = -40 ?C).
Source
Mark. was first, and correct, with:
-40 F = -40 C.
Randall wrote:
- 40
mj said:
It's a bit chilly
For most to have experienced -40 deg (C or F - it doesn't matter).
Alan J answered:
-40 degrees.
Dave responded:
-40°. That's pretty damn cold and its never been that cold (in recorded history) where I live in Michigan, although January 30th & 31st 2019 we suffered through a polar vortex that had a low temperature of -18°F, the coldest snap since the February 1899 Great Arctic Outbreak, where the all time low temperature of -24°F was set for the city of Battle Creek.
zorch replied:
-40, Minus Forty Degrees is where they meet.
Barbara, of Peppy Tech fame replied:
The answer is -40 degrees.
Rosemary in Columbus responded:
-40C = -40F
DJ Useo wrote:
-40 °C and -40 °F is my answer. An interesting fact, isn't it?
Now excuse me, I have to play the geetar for a while.
Deborah said:
It's my birthday, the wind was howling hot and fast from the north when I started to dress for my annual "ride my age in miles" bike ride. And Medicare hasn't fully approved me yet for benefits, so I had to reschedule my Tuesday doctor appointments. These are minor annoyances. I'm happy and grateful to be here, having successfully navigated another trip around the sun.
Joe S answered:
I have Canadian friends, it's -40. More importantly, in 12 days the clock in the dashboard of my car will be correct. How 'bout that?
Dave in Tucson took the day off.
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Roy "Anyone but Trump" in Tyler, TX took the day off.
Kevin K. in Washington, DC, took the day off.
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James of Alhambra took the day off.
BttbBob has returned to semi-retired status.
~~~~~
• Novelist Sarah Waters remembers a teacher who inspired her: Ed Tanguay, who in the 1980s taught art at the Milford Haven grammar school in south-west Wales. One day, he forgot to wear a tie to school, so he had his art students make him one - out of painted cardboard. Ms. Waters says, "He was everything a good teacher should be: stern at times, but good natured; clever, creative, and fun." Not every teacher is good, of course, and some people have never had a good teacher. Artist Dinos Chapman said in a newspaper interview, "I hated every single one of my teachers, and if any one of them are still alive, I hope they read this. They were horrible old fascists, convinced you could beat education into kids, and they threatened to cut my hair because I had lovely locks back then. It obviously traumatized me because now I'm completely bald."
• Architect Frank Gehry learned an important lesson early in his life from Glen Lukens, who taught him ceramics at the University of Southern California. Mr. Lukens wanted to establish a ceramics industry in Haiti, and Mr. Gehry helped him by testing various glazes to see if they would work well when applied to Haitian soil. Once, the glaze came out absolutely beautiful, and Mr. Gehry said, "It's just wonderful what can happen with the kiln and all those glazes." Mr. Lukens responded, "Stop. From now on, when things like that happen, you take credit for it, because you did it. You made the pot. You put the glaze on. You put it in the kiln. You're allowed to claim credit for it, and I want you to do that." Today, Mr. Gehry says, "That was a very important lesson that resonates for me even now."
• After Norman Rockwell's first wife, Mary, died in 1959, friends waited a suitable interval, and then they encouraged Norman to get out into the world. Norman was interested in poetry, so he took a class in poetry that was taught by Molly Punderson. In class, Norman was an original. The class studied some poetry by Robert Frost, who was then still alive, and when Norman was puzzled by some lines in one of Mr. Frost's poems, he thought of an alternative to the class discussing the lines and trying to discover their meaning - someone should telephone Mr. Frost and ask him what the lines meant. Molly must have enjoyed her unusual student: In 1961, Norman and Molly got married.
• When she was very young, children's book illustrator Denise Fleming used to decorate her school papers with drawings in an attempt to get better grades. Actually, her 3rd-grade teacher was so impressed by Denise's drawings that she suggested that Denise take art classes. Denise did take art lessons at the Toledo Museum of Art, and she and her classmates spent lots of time looking at the art in the museum. She was especially impressed by Monet's water lilies and by a landscape by Vincent van Gogh and by Picasso's Woman with Crow. She adds, "And then there was this anatomically correct baby Jesus that we all found incredible, especially me because I had no brothers."
• Education is immensely important in art appreciation - it enhances the pleasure of looking at art. For example, at the bottom of Gerald David's The Rest on the Flight into Egypt, some carefully chosen plants appear at the feet of the Madonna and Child. They include a clump of violets, which symbolize the humility of the Virgin. They also include ferns, which were regarded as a protection against evil. And they include wild strawberry plants, which have three leaves, making them a Christian symbol of the Trinity: Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.
• The education of an artist can begin very early. Children's book illustrator and author Ruth Heller uses an artistic technique in her professional work that she learned in elementary school. She begins the creation of an illustration by drawing on tracing paper, then she turns the tracing paper over and transfers the drawing to watercolor paper by using a butter knife or a Popsicle stick to rub the lines. Ms. Heller says, "I learned to do that in the 2ndgrade, and it still works for me."
Jeff Tiderich:
"we've had presidents who were thieves and we've had presidents who were scoundrels and we've had presidents who were morons. but with Trump we hit the trifecta. lucky us. "
Linda >^..^<
We are all only temporarily able bodied.
CBS begins the night with a FRESH'NCIS', followed by a FRESH'FBI', then a FRESH'NCIS: The 3rd One'.
Scheduled on a FRESHStephen Colbert are John Lithgow, Camila Mendes, and Ree Drummond.
Scheduled on a FRESHJames Corden, OBE, are Joel Edgerton, Harry Connick Jr., and Noah Cyrus.
NBC starts the night with a FRESH'The Voice', followed by a FRESH'This Is Us', then a FRESH'New Amsterdam'.
Scheduled on a FRESHJimmy Fallon are Jessica Biel, Billy Crudup, and Jay Jurden.
Scheduled on a FRESHSeth Meyers are James Spader, Tim Meadows, Alison Roman, and Terence Higgins.
Scheduled on a FRESHLilly Singh are Rosario Dawson and Zoey Deutch.
ABC opens the night with the chestnut 'It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown', followed by 'Toy Story Of TERROR!', then a FRESH'mixed-ish', followed by a FRESH'black-ish', then a FRESH'The Douglas Dynasty: Fame, Addiction, Recovery: A Diane Sawyer Special'.
Scheduled on a FRESHJimmy Kimmel are Benedict Cumberbatch, Kelly Ripa, and David Byrne with the Brooklyn Youth Chorus.
The CW offers a FRESH'The Flash', followed by a FRESH'Arrow'.
Faux fills the night with LIVE'World Series Baseball - Game 1', then pads the left coast with local crap.
MY recycles an old 'Chicago PD', followed by another old 'Chicago PD'.
AMC offers the movie 'Carrie', followed by the movie 'Trick 'r Treat', then the movie 'Stephen King's Silver Bullet'.
BBC -
[7:00AM] STAR TREK: VOYAGER - SEASON 6 - EPISODE 4-Tinker, Tenor, Doctor, Spy
[8:00AM] STAR TREK: VOYAGER - SEASON 6 - EPISODE 5-Alice
[9:00AM] STAR TREK: VOYAGER - SEASON 6 - EPISODE 6-Riddles
[10:00AM] STAR TREK: VOYAGER - SEASON 6 - EPISODE 7-Dragon's Teeth
[11:00AM] STAR TREK: VOYAGER - SEASON 6 - EPISODE 8-One Small Step
[12:00PM] STAR TREK: VOYAGER - SEASON 6 - EPISODE 9-The Voyager Conspiracy
[1:00PM] STAR TREK: VOYAGER - SEASON 6 - EPISODE 10-Pathfinder
[2:00PM] STAR TREK: VOYAGER - SEASON 6 - EPISODE 11-Fair Haven
[3:00PM] STAR TREK: VOYAGER - SEASON 6 - EPISODE 12-Blink of an Eye
[4:00PM] STAR TREK: VOYAGER - SEASON 6 - EPISODE 13-Virtuoso
[5:00PM] X2: X-MEN UNITED (2003)
[8:00PM] X-MEN: THE LAST STAND (2005)
[10:28PM] X-MEN: THE LAST STAND (2005)
[12:56AM] STAR TREK: VOYAGER - SEASON 6 - EPISODE 9-The Voyager Conspiracy
[1:57AM] STAR TREK: VOYAGER - SEASON 6 - EPISODE 10-Pathfinder
[2:58AM] STAR TREK: VOYAGER - SEASON 6 - EPISODE 11-Fair Haven
[3:59AM] STAR TREK: VOYAGER - SEASON 6 - EPISODE 12-Blink of an Eye
[5:00AM] STAR TREK: VOYAGER - SEASON 6 - EPISODE 13-Virtuoso (ALL TIMES EDT)
Bravo has 'Real Housewives Of OC', another 'Real Housewives Of OC', followed by a FRESH'Real Housewives Of OC', then a FRESH'In A Man's World', followed by a FRESH'Watch What Happens Live'.
Comedy Central has 2 hours of old 'The Office', an hour of old 'Tosh.0', followed by a FRESH'Tosh.0', then a FRESH'The Jim Jefferies Show'.
On a RERUNThe Daily Show (from 10/2/19) are Jacqueline Woodson.
On a RERUNLights Out with David Spade (from 10/10/19) are Ron Funches, Adam Devine, and Alexandra Shipp.
FX has the movie 'Daddy's Home', followed by the movie 'Guardians Of The Galaxy', then a FRESH'Mayans MC'.
History has 'The Curse Of Oak Island', followed by a FRESH'The Curse Of Oak Island'.
IFC -
[6:00A] Escape From the Planet of the Apes
[8:15A] Tales From the Crypt Presents Demon Knight
[10:15A] Graveyard Shift
[12:15P] The Mist
[3:00P] Body Snatchers
[5:00P] An American Haunting
[7:00P] Ghost Ship
[9:00P] Halloween
[11:30P] Paranormal Activity
[1:30A] Paranormal Activity 3
[3:30A] Graveyard Shift
[5:30A] Night Flight - The Heartbreakers
[5:45A] Night Flight - Pop Poetry (ALL TIMES EDT)
Singer-songwriter Brandi Carlile has pulled out of the Fortune Most Powerful Woman Summit that begins today in Washington, D.C. She follows Hillary Clinton and "Surviving R. Kelly" executive producer Dream Hampton in exiting the summit over the inclusion of Kirstjen Nielsen, President Trump's former homeland security secretary, who shared responsibility for implementing his family separation policy among migrants at the border.
Carlile was expected to address immigration issues herself at the summit, as her song "The Joke," which was nominated for record and song of the year at the 2019 Grammys, deals with that topic.
In a series of Twitter messages Monday morning, the singer expressed profuse gratitude for the honor of being asked to appear and said she believes in dialogue with those expressing contrary viewpoints, but that appearing at the same dais as Nielsen was finally beyond the pale.
After quoting key lines from "The Joke" ("They come to kick dirt in your face / To call you weak and then displace you after carrying your baby on your back across the desert"), Carlile said, "At the end of the day I'm a mother with a ridiculous birthright and a heart for displaced people. i'm proud to have been invited to the Fortune Most Powerful Women Summit in D.C. Dropping out of such a special appearance is rarely my style. I believe in showing up and lending my voice. Joining the power.
"Respectfully, I absolutely cannot support Kirstjen Nielsen having a voice among the most powerful and inspiring women in America. Her access to power is righteously over. I forgive her. I mean no disrespect. I wish her well and hope that she comes to understand the error in her part of this shameful policy.
Monica Lewinsky and Max Joseph, co-host of MTV's Catfish, have teamed up for an HBO Max documentary.
The pair will star in and exec produce 15 Minutes of Shame, taking a look at public shaming in modern day culture.
Using follow-doc storytelling, social experiments, and the examination of social behavior, the documentary will feature individuals from around the globe who have been publicly shamed and will explore the bullies, the bystanders, the media, psychologists, politicians and experts in between.
Lewinsky knows the topic well, having been vilified for her affair with President Bill Clinton. In 2015, she gave a TED Talk titled The Price of Shame, which has been watched over 16M times and has also led anti-bullying campaigns including Defy the Name and In Real Life. Meanwhile, Joseph, who directed and co-wrote the feature film We Are Your Friends, worked on MTV's Catfish for seven seasons.
The documentary is produced by A+E Networks-affiliated production company Six West, producer of Gretchen Carlson: Breaking the Silence for Lifetime, and exec produced by Steve Ascher and Kristy Sabat as well as Lewinsky and Joseph.
Walter Becker's massive collection of guitars and amplifiers collected $3.3 million at auction over the weekend. Julien's Auctions in Los Angeles hosted the two-day sale, which featured 600 guitars and 400 amplifiers, plus an assortment of other gear and sound equipment.
According to Billboard, the big ticket items included a 1957 Fender Duo-Sonic guitar featured in the liner photographs of Steely Dan's Aja ($57,600), a pedal board Becker used at his apartment ($32,000) and a red Sadowsky Telecaster-style guitar nicknamed "Josie" (after the Steely Dan tune), which Becker played on The Late Show in 1995 and throughout his 1996 tour ($24,600). One of the most surprising sales was a 1930s Bruno acoustic guitar decorated with a Hawaiian scene that sold for $28,125, despite being valued between $200 and $400.
The most expensive item of the auction was one of Becker's favorite guitars to play live, a custom sparkling green Stratocaster-style guitar that he bought in 2011 from the New York-based guitar maker Chihoe Hahn. Becker reportedly paid $3,400 for the instrument and it sold for $68,750.
One quirk of the auction that may have driven prices up was the fact that Becker hadn't previously sold any items in his collection, meaning there was no old price info for Julien's or prospective buyers to draw on. The auction house came up with its initial estimates based on the market value of the item, combined with other factors like whether or not the instrument was custom-made, or if Becker played it on stage.
Becker died September 3rd, 2017 of esophageal cancer. Since then, his long-time musical partner, Donald Fagen, has continued to perform as the sole bandleader of Steely Dan. The group is currently on tour, with a residency at the Beacon Theatre set to wrap October 22nd and multi-night stands to follow in Boston and Philadelphia.
The number of rich Chinese has surpassed the count of wealthy Americans for the first time as both countries keep churning out millionaires, a study by Credit Suisse showed.
The Swiss bank's annual wealth survey released on Monday found 100 million Chinese ranked in the global top 10% as of the middle of this year versus 99 million in the United States.
"Despite the trade tension between the United States and China over the past 12 months, both countries have fared strongly in wealth creation, contributing $3.8 trillion and $1.9 trillion respectively," said Nannette Hechler-Fayd'herbe, global head of economics and research at Credit Suisse CSGN.S.
The ranks of the world's millionaires have risen by 1.1 million to an estimated 46.8 million, collectively owning $158.3 trillion in net assets, 44% of the global total, the study found.
The United States added more than half of this number -675,000 new millionaires - to its sizeable stock.
Campaigners who fought for decades to end Northern Ireland's same-sex marriage ban and restrictions on abortion gathered in Belfast on Monday to prepare for a momentous change to the laws on both at the stroke of midnight.
Northern Ireland is the only part of the United Kingdom that does not allow same-sex marriage. Also, unlike England, Scotland and Wales, laws in Northern Ireland forbid abortion except where a mother's life is at risk, bans that have been upheld by the region's conservative politicians.
The British province's power-sharing executive collapsed almost three years ago and the assembly remains suspended, with Northern Ireland currently largely administered from London.
Previous attempts to follow the Irish Republic in legalising abortion have been blocked by the socially conservative Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), using a special veto intended to prevent discrimination towards one community over another.
The changes will bring the province's laws on same-sex marriage into line with the rest of the United Kingdom, and same-sex couples and marriage equality activists gathered in Belfast on Monday to celebrate.
In 2019, good news is in short supply, let alone news showing we can actually solve a pressing global problem. So folks, savor this: The ozone hole hit its smallest maximum extent ever recorded. It just, uh, comes with a tiny caveat.
The ozone hole hit its lowest maximum extent on record, in part due to a shift in the polar vortex (yes, there's one in the southern hemisphere, too) that caused a heat wave 12 or so miles above Antarctica. The spike in temperatures in the portion of the atmosphere known as the stratosphere helped limit conditions that cause ozone-depleting chemicals to form. While humans have certainly reduced our emissions of those chemicals, we can't take much credit for this year's record-small ozone hole. But hey, I'm still calling it a W for humanity in 2019.
NASA reported the new record on Monday, noting the ozone hole grew to 6.3 million square miles (16.4 million square kilometers) on September 9 and has since begun to contract to 3.9 million square miles (10 million square kilometers) or less for the rest of the month and October. That sudden contraction is extremely rare; the ozone hole usually remains fairly open through mid-October before slowly mending by December.
This year was an odd one, though. The stratosphere, which is where the ozone hole forms, experienced a sudden warming event in early September right as ozone hole season got underway. September marks a turn toward spring in the southern hemisphere. As the stronger sunshine returns, its rays kickstart chemical reactions in the stratosphere that are particularly prevalent on cloud particles.
But as the process got underway this austral spring, things went haywire. Temperatures reached 29 degrees Fahrenheit (16 degrees Celsius) above normal in the stratosphere in mid-September, a process known as sudden stratospheric warming. That warmth inhibited stratospheric cloud formation, limiting the amount of ozone depletion. But sudden stratospheric warming events can have another impact.
Thailand's king has stripped his royal noble consort of her titles and military ranks for disloyalty, accusing her of seeking to undermine the position of his official wife for her own benefit. Sixty-seven-year-old King Maha Vajiralongkorn's royal command issued Monday came just three months after he granted 34-year-old Sineenatra Wongvajirabhakdi the consort title, reviving an old palace tradition of taking a junior wife.
BBC News reports an official announcement said Sineenat Wongvajirapakdi was "ambitious" and had tried to "elevate herself to the same state as the queen." The statement cited her alleged "misbehavior and disloyalty against the monarch."
Sineenat, who is a trained pilot, nurse and bodyguard, was the first person to be awarded the title of Royal Noble Consort in nearly a century, BBC News reports.
Sineenatra had her title of Chao Khun Phra Sineenatra Bilasakalayani withdrawn, along with other royal and military titles and decorations.
In May, the king named longtime companion Suthida Vajiralongkorn Na Ayudhya his queen when they were married a few days before his formal coronation. Both the 41-year-old Suthida and Sineenatra have served as senior officers in palace security units.
A crew of deep-sea explorers and historians looking for lost World War II warships have found a second Japanese aircraft carrier that went down in the historic Battle of Midway. Vulcan Inc.'s director of undersea operations Rob Kraft and Naval History and Heritage Command historian Frank Thompson reviewed high frequency sonar images of the warship Sunday and say that its dimensions and location mean it has to be the carrier Akagi.
The Akagi was found in the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument resting in nearly 18,000 feet of water more than 1,300 miles northwest of Pearl Harbor. The crew of the research vessel Petrel posted dramatic images of the ship on Facebook.
The researchers used an autonomous underwater vehicle, or AUV, equipped with sonar to find the ship. The vehicle had been out overnight collecting data, and the image of a warship appeared in the first set of readings Sunday morning. The first scan used low-resolution sonar, so the crew sent their AUV back to get higher-quality images.
The vessel is sitting among a pile of debris and the ground around the warship is clearly disturbed by the impact of it hitting the seafloor.
The find comes on the heels of the discovery of another Japanese carrier, the Kaga, last week.
There's a little extra thumb-thing on the hand of the aye-aye, a strange-looking nocturnal lemur native to Madagascar. Tucked near each wrist is a small nub of bone and cartilage that's like a miniature thumb - and until recently, scientists didn't know this pseudothumb existed.
Aye-ayes (Daubentonia madagascariensis) are considered by many to be the weirdest of all primates, with their coarse and frazzled bedhead fur, oversize ears, bulging eyes and bony, spindly fingers, one of which is exceptionally long.
But the discovery of the hidden mini-thumb makes aye-ayes even weirder: They are the only primate to have evolved an extra finger to help with grasping. The formerly unknown digit even has its own fingerprint, scientists reported in a new study.
In local Malagasy folklore, aye-ayes are seen as symbols of death and evil, capable of delivering curses and bringing bad luck, according to the Duke Lemur Center in North Carolina.
However, the aye-ayes' long, flexible fingers are best suited not for cursing humans, but for tapping on tree branches to locate hollow regions where tasty grubs hide, and then to poke inside holes and fish insects out, the Duke Lemur Center said.
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