• Jean-Dominique Bauby, editor-in-chief of French Elle, suffered a massive stroke that left his body almost totally incapacitated although his mind was fine. He was able to control only his left eye, but by blinking he dictated a book to freelance book editor Claude Mendibil, who recited to him the letters of the French alphabet by their frequency of use. When she pronounced the correct letter, Mr. Bauby blinked his left eye. With practice, she was able to guess the word he wanted after learning the first few letters. The title of the book he dictated, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, refers to his life. His mind — the butterfly — was still active, but it was trapped in a body that no longer functioned properly — the diving bell. The book became a best seller, and it was made into a critically acclaimed movie with the same title. The process by which the book was dictated could have been disheartening, but Ms. Mendibil says that she cried only once. It happened when he was dictating a passage about his two young children, Céleste and Théophile. Ms. Mendibil says, “I have a child, and I suddenly realized what it would be to be next to her and not be able to take her in my arms. The tears rose, and I had to go outside for five minutes.”. When she returned, Mr. Bauby used eye blinks to tell her, “You look beautiful when you cry.”
• From age seven, James Thurber was blind in one eye, but he never stopped looking at the world in a humorous way, writing such famous stories as “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty.” He was also famous for his humorous drawings that appeared in The New Yorker, although many people felt that a child had created the doodle-like drawings and although some parents even sent in examples of their children’s drawings to show that they were better than Mr. Thurber’s drawings. Later in life, Mr. Thurber began to have trouble with his good eye, and he was forced to stop using a typewriter. He began to write his stories by hand on paper, but his poor eyesight forced him to write only 20 words per page. Eventually, he was unable to write his humorous stories on paper, but he refused to let even that stop him. Almost totally blind, Mr. Thurber created the stories in his mind, memorized them, and dictated them to a person who wrote down the words he spoke. Other people may have become bitter with the loss of their eyesight, but Mr. Thurber kept laughing, and in his humorous stories he made it easy for other people to laugh, too.
Playwrights
• Early in his career as a playwright, August Wilson found writing dialogue difficult. He once asked his friend and fellow playwright Rob Penny, “How do you make characters talk?” Mr. Penny replied, “You don’t. You listen to them.” When writing his play Jitney, Mr. Wilson listened to his characters. He says, “I found that exhilarating. It felt like this was what I’d been looking for, something that was mine, that would enable me to say anything.” Unfortunately, his play was rejected — twice — by the O’Neill Playwrights Conference, leading Mr. Wilson to wonder what to do next. His thinking took the form of a conversation with himself: “Maybe it’s not as good as you think. You have to write a better play.” “I’ve already written the best play I can write.” “Why don’t you write above your talent?” “Oh, man, how can you do that?” “Well, you can write beneath it, can’t you?” “Oh, yeah.” Of course, he did continue to write plays. His manner of writing was unusual. He wrote while standing up, and he had a punching bag by his side. According to John Lahr, “When Wilson was in full flow and the dialogue was popping, he’d stop, pivot, throw a barrage of punches, then turn back to work.”
• Caesar Augustus once wrote a tragedy titled Ajax, about Ajax the Greater, a mythical ancient Greek hero who, after the events described in the Iliad, committed suicide by falling on his sword. However, Augustus was unhappy with his tragedy, so he destroyed it. When someone asked what had happened to his Ajax, Augustus replied, “Fell on his eraser.”
In Spain and Portugal it's called 'Gaita', in Italy it's 'Zampogna', and the Germans say 'Dudelsack'. What is the name of this musical instrument in English?
The Volga is the longest river in Europe. Flowing through Central Russia to Southern Russia and into the Caspian Sea, it has a length of 3,531 km (2,194 mi) and a catchment area of 1,360,000 km2 (530,000 sq mi). It is also Europe's largest river in terms of discharge and drainage basin. It is widely regarded as the national river of Russia. The old Russian state, the Rus' Khaganate, arose around the Volga river. Historically, it was an important meeting place of Eurasian civilizations.
The river flows in Russia through forests, forest-steppes and steppes. Nine of the ten largest cities of Russia, including the nation's capital, Moscow, are located in the Volga's drainage basin.
Some of the largest reservoirs in the world are located along the Volga. The river has a symbolic meaning in Russian culture and is often referred to as Volga-Matushka (Mother Volga) in Russian literature and folklore.
The Volga is the longest river in Europe, and its catchment area is almost entirely inside Russia, though the longest river in Russia is the Ob–Irtysh river system. It belongs to the closed basin of the Caspian Sea, being the longest river to flow into a closed basin.
Source
Mark. was first, and correct, with:
The Volga River.
Doug in Albuquerque, New Mexico, wrote:
The Volga River is the longest river in Europe.
Alan J answered:
The Volga.
Randall wrote:
The Volga
Mac Mac replied:
Volga
zorch responded:
The Volga.
Jacqueline wrote:
The Volga river is 2,193 miles long and flows through Russia.
Deborah, the Master Gardener responded:
Full moon and a partial lunar eclipse tonight; hope to stay awake to see it.
The longest river in Europe is the Volga River in Russia. Now I wonder where the cutoff is between Asia and Europe? Another question for another day…
Billy in Cypress replied:
Danube
Cal in Vermont wrote:
The beautiful blue Danube. If Russia is a part of Europe, then the Volga.
Jim from CA, retired to ID, said:
Volga River
Daniel in The City answered:
The Volga
Rosemary in Columbus responded:
Volga River in Russia
Joe ( -- Vote Blue, No Matter Who -- ) replied:
It's The Volga, at first I thought it was The Danube, but that's the second longest. Well, there you go. Tomorrow, or the the next day, I'll get the rest of my new furnace installed, Woo hoo
Leo in Boise took the day off.
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Roy the (now retired) hoghead (aka 'hoghed') ( Without music to decorate it, time is just a bunch of boring production deadlines or dates by which bills must be paid. ~Frank Zappa ) took the day off.
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BttbBob has returned to semi-retired status.
~~~~~
You don't run a train around the middle of your dining table! You run it around the tree! What a maroon!
And who the F puts gaudy gold candelabra inside the train tracks? Tacky white trash. Why not save the candelabra for decorating your tasteless gold toilets?! Classless crumpet enabler!
Linda >^..^<
We are all only temporarily able bodied.
My grandmother was born on this day in 1905 - she was 12 when her dad died in the last pandemic.
Tonight, Tuesday:
CBS begins the night with the chestnut 'Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer', followed by a FRESH'Let's Make A Deal', then a RERUN'FBI: Most Wanted'.
Scheduled on a FRESHStephen Colbert are Bryan Cranston and Cori Bush.
Scheduled on a FRESHJames Corden, OBE, are John Lithgow and Gary Barlow.
NBC starts the night with a FRESH'The Voice', followed by a RERUN'Weakest Link', then a FRESH'Transplant'.
Scheduled on a FRESHJimmy Fallon are Keanu Reeves, Alex Winter, Gov. Andrew Cuomo, and Smashing Pumpkins.
On a RERUNSeth Meyers (from 11/4/20) is Leslie Jones.
On a RERUNLilly Singh (from 12/17/19) is Leslie Odom Jr.
ABC opens the night with a FRESH'The Bachelorette', followed by a FRESH'Big Sky'.
Jimmy Kimmel are John Mulaney, Rita Wilson, and Devon Gilfillian.
The CW offers a RERUN'Swamp Thing', followed by a RERUN'Tell Me A Story'.
Faux has a FRESH'Cosmos: Possible Worlds', followed by a FRESH'NeXt'.
MY recycles an old 'Chicago PD', followed by another old 'Chicago PD'.
AMC offers the movie 'Fred Claus', followed by the movie 'The Polar Express', then the movie 'Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory'.
BBC -
[6:00AM] STAR TREK: DEEP SPACE NINE - THE COLLABORATOR
[7:00AM] STAR TREK: DEEP SPACE NINE - TRIBUNAL
[8:00AM] TAR TREK: DEEP SPACE NINE - THE JEM'HADAR
[9:00AM] STAR TREK: DEEP SPACE NINE -
[10:00AM] STAR TREK: DEEP SPACE NINE - THE SEARCH
[11:00AM] STAR TREK: DEEP SPACE NINE - THE HOUSE OF QUARK
[12:00PM] STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION - NEW GROUND
[1:00PM] STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION - HERO WORSHIP
[2:00PM] STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION - VIOLATIONS
[3:00PM] STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION - THE MASTERPIECE SOCIETY
[4:00PM] STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION - CONUNDRUM
[5:00PM] STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION - POWER PLAY
[6:00PM] STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION - ETHICS
[7:00PM] STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION - THE OUTCAST
[8:00PM] BRAVEHEART
[12:00AM] FIGHT CLUB
[3:00AM] FIGHT CLUB (ALL TIMES ET)
Bravo has 'Below Deck', followed by a FRESH'Below Deck', another 'Below Deck', then a FRESH'Don't Be Tardy ...', followed by a FRESH'Don't Be Tardy ...', then a FRESH'Watch What Happens: Live'.
Comedy Central has 2 hours of old 'The Office', and 2 hours of old 'Drunk History'.
Scheduled on a FRESHThe Daily Show it's TBA.
FX has the movie 'Now You See Me', followed by the movie 'Skyscraper'.
History has 'The Curse Of Oak Island', followed by a FRESH'The Curse Of Oak Island: Digging Deeper', then a FRESH'The Curse Of Oak Island', followed by a FRESH'Beyond Oak Island'.
IFC -
[6:30am] Life Of Brian
[8:30am] Monty Python And The Holy Grail
[10:30am] Road To Perdition
[1:00pm] Run All Night
[3:30pm] Reindeer Games
[6:00pm] Taken 2
[8:00pm] My Cousin Vinny
[10:30pm] The Wolf Of Wall Street
[2:30am] Road To Perdition
[5:00am] The Three Stooges - You Natzy Spy!
[5:30am] The Three Stooges - Back From The Front (ALL TIMES ET)
Sundance -
[6:00am - 9:30am] gomer pyle, u.s.m.c.
[10:00am - 12:30pm] hogan's heroes
[1:00pm] she's having a baby
[3:30pm] yours, mine & ours
[5:30pm] sleepless in seattle
[8:00pm] erin brockovich
[11:00pm] erin brockovich
[2:00am] columbo
[4:15am] columbo (ALL TIMES ET)
SyFy has the movie 'Seven', followed by the movie 'The Day After Tomorrow'.
TBS:
On a RERUNConan (from 10/27/20) is Bert Kreischer.
If you were to choose a word that rose above most in 2020, which word would it be?
Ding, ding, ding: Merriam-Webster on Monday announced “pandemic” as its 2020 word of the year.
“That probably isn't a big shock,” Peter Sokolowski, editor at large for Merriam-Webster, told The Associated Press.
“Often the big news story has a technical word that's associated with it and in this case, the word pandemic is not just technical but has become general. It's probably the word by which we'll refer to this period in the future,” he said.
Pandemic, with roots in Latin and Greek, is a combination of “pan,” for all, and “demos,” for people or population. The latter is the same root of “democracy,” Sokolowski noted. The word pandemic dates to the mid-1600s, used broadly for “universal” and more specifically to disease in a medical text in the 1660s, he said.
Ivanka Trump (R-Tainted) should not expect a warm welcome back in New York after a string of “Not Wanted” posters appeared across Manhattan.
Donald Trump (R-Grifter)’s daughter has faced fierce criticism for not preventing her father implementing a string of controversial policies, including child separation at the US border.
Now the frontier-style signs have appeared in Ms Trump’s former hometown just weeks before her father is due to leave the White House.
They are the work of the Good Liars comedy duo of Jason Selvig and Davram Stiefler and mock among other things Ms Trump’s “fake posh” accent.
Her husband, senior White House advisor Jared Kushner (R-Slenderman), also gets targeted and is referred to as fictional supernatural character Slender Man.
Roadside Attractions is opening Roberto Benigni’s new Pinocchio movie from filmmaker Matteo Garrone on Christmas Day stateside on 2,000 screens. It’s more good news for those theaters which are braving the Christmas holiday. This past Thanksgiving proved that families will venture out during the pandemic where they feel safe and head to the movies; Universal/DreamWorks Animation’s The Croods: A New Age moving to a $14.2M five-day opening.
Having grossed $1.1M in the UK via distributor Vertigo Releasing back in August from an English language version, that Pinocchio print will be booked at U.S. and Canada theaters versus a subtitled one. Garrone’s Pinocchio opened in Italy a year ago where it grossed $17.1M, repping 84% of the pic’s $20.4M WW box office to date. The movie also played this past year’s Berlin Film Festival.
In this live-action version, which Roadside acquired U.S. on back on Nov. 19, Oscar winner Benigni plays Geppetto in his second go-round with the classic Italian IP. Following the success of Life Is Beautiful, Benigni wrote, directed and starred in a 2002 Miramax version of Pinocchio which grossed $44.3M worldwide. In that version he played the title character. In the Garrone version, Pinocchio is played by nine-year-old newcomer Federico Ielapi.
Pinocchio has been translated into more than 300 languages from the original 1883 novel written by Carlo Collodi, and remains amongst the top 50 bestsellers globally. The 1940 Disney version of Pinocchio has grossed close to $122M WW.
Netflix should add a disclaimer to The Crown making clear to its 195M subscribers that the royal drama is partly a work of fiction, according to the UK government.
Culture secretary Oliver Dowden has piled pressure on the streamer to address historic fabrications in its flagship series, which is penned by Peter Morgan and produced by Left Bank Pictures.
Speaking to The Mail on Sunday, Dowden said: “It’s a beautifully produced work of fiction, so as with other TV productions, Netflix should be very clear at the beginning it is just that.”
The minister, who plans to write to Netflix this week outling his concerns, added: “Without this, I fear a generation of viewers who did not live through these events may mistake fiction for fact.”
He is right in that many factual dramas will add disclaimers about creative license being taken with historic events. The Crown has not shied away from warnings in Season 4, flagging scenes featuring Princess Diana’s bulimia.
This past week, millions of Americans joined together in total defiance of all public health advice for another round of infecting and killing their loved ones, while ensuring that the nation's medical professionals will face several more months of risky, grueling, emotionally draining labor trying to keep a country full of heedless jerks and credulous conspiracy-mongers alive.
Many doctors, nurses, and hospital staff are increasingly hopeless and disillusioned. Gone are the 7'oclock cheers and "Thank you essential workers" signs in every window. That fleeting solidarity has been replaced by a cold, selfish indifference to the staggering and seemingly pointless sacrifices these heroic workers continue to make on our behalf. And many of them are wondering how much longer they can keep it up.
Never has this been more clear than it was over the long Thanksgiving weekend. While many Americans did the sensible — if heart-wrenching — thing and stayed home or limited their gatherings to small, pre-existing "pods," more than a million people traveled through airports the day before Thanksgiving. In one poll, 40 percent of respondents told researchers they were planning on attending a large, in-person gathering. All of this while a record 90,000 people were already hospitalized with COVID-19, and public health professionals begged people to stay home so as not to exacerbate the problem.
How can people do this, knowing that their actions risk their own lives and the lives of others? It would be one thing if the incredible, worldwide scientific effort to create a vaccine for this terrible virus was failing and there was no hope on the bleak horizon. But it looks like multiple vaccines will be deployed beginning next month, with the possibility of a return to some kind of normalcy by May. The end of this thing is now tantalizingly in sight.
But the reality is that many Americans are now consciously choosing to spread death and suffering over finding the strength to endure for a few more months. And they aren't just harming themselves: They are putting unimaginable strain on the country's health-care system, as burned out doctors, nurses, and staff ask themselves why they are martyring themselves on behalf of such a venal society.
The pachyderm dubbed the “ world’s loneliest elephant ” after languishing alone for years in a Pakistani zoo was greeted on his arrival in Cambodia on Monday by chanting Buddhist monks and was then sent on his way to a wildlife sanctuary.
Like other travelers during these times, Kaavan needed to be tested for COVID-19 before his flight. Once his large metal crate was safely on board, Kaavan was provided with in-flight snacks — 200 kilograms (440 pounds) of them — for the seven-hour journey.
The 36-year-old, 4,080 kilogram (9,000 pound) elephant received a warm welcome on arrival in Cambodia from officials, conservationists and the Buddhist monks, who chanted prayers for his harmony and prosperity.
Kaavan, a 1985 gift from Sri Lanka to Pakistan, had been living in the Marghazar Zoo in Islamabad with his partner Saheli, who died in 2012. The zoo fell on hard times and conditions got so bad that a court in the Pakistani capital ordered the zoo closed in August.
The plight of the male Asian elephant has captured worldwide attention, including from the American singer and actor Cher, who has been closely involved in his rescue and was in Cambodia for Kaavan's arrival.
An eight-mile wall of prehistoric rock art featuring animals and humans has been discovered in the Chiribiquete National Park, Colombia, in the Amazon rainforest.
Dubbed the “Sistine Chapel of the ancients”, the 12,500-years-old artwork was uncovered by a British-Colombian team of archaeologists under the leadership of José Iriarte, professor of archaeology at Exeter University, and was funded by the European Research Council.
Experts have dated the rock art based on the portrayal of animals that are now extinct, such as a mastodon — a prehistoric relative of the elephant, known to have inhabited North and Central America about 12,000 years ago. Among other animals portrayed in the rock art are fish, turtles, lizards and birds and people dancing and holding hands, reported The Observer.
The rock paintings vary in size, and some are so high up on the cliff face that they can only be viewed with drones.
Professor Iriarte told The Observer that the depictions of wooden towers with people appearing to bungee jump from them may be a clue as to how the artists reached the highest points on the rock.
Police in southern Germany have opened an investigation into the disappearance of a large wooden sculpture of a phallus from a mountainside where it appeared without explanation several years ago.
Local newspaper Allgaeuer Zeitung reported Monday that the 2-meter-tall (almost 7-foot) tall sculpture appeared to have been chopped down over the weekend, with just a sorry pile of sawdust left behind on the 1,738-meter (5,702-foot) high Gruenten mountain.
The male genitalia had gained celebrity status in recent years as a destination for hikers, and even appeared on Google Maps, where it was classified as a “cultural monument.” Local lore has it that it was made as a prank birthday present for a young man whose family didn’t appreciate the gift and so the 200-kilogram (440-pound) sculpture was hauled up the mountain and left there.
The German news agency dpa reported that police in the Bavarian town of Kempten are investigating the disappearance, although it wasn’t clear whether a crime had been committed.
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has returned to semi-retired status.
In memory.
