Personalized Zippo Lighters from the Vietnam War
"The indomitable Zippo lighter was an essential tool for American soldiers during the Vietnam War. Many soldiers engraved messages, patterns and symbols into theirs. You can view a gallery of examples at the link. Content warning: foul language."--Neatorama
Paul Constant: "RIP, America: Obamacare, the Supreme Court Decision, and the End of Freedom as We Know It" (The Stranger)
Obamacare mandates health insurance for every American starting in January of 2014. Among other protections, it also prevents patients from being denied coverage for preexisting conditions and prevents insurance companies from pursuing reckless profits at the expense of the people they ostensibly serve. And because the law caps health-insurance profits at 15-20 percent, 13 million Americans will receive refund checks this August.
Dorian Lynskey: Why the decline of the Saturday job is a loss to us all (Guardian)
At 16 I was devastatingly shy and only financial necessity propelled me through the doors of the Sidcup branch of Woolworths to apply for a till job. The branch boss was a balding, bony man who gave the impression that hiring me caused him considerable personal pain and future regret. To be fair to him, his instincts were correct.
CLAIRE MCKIN: Loch Ness monster cited by US schools as evidence that evolution is myth (Scotsman)
THOUSANDS of American school pupils are to be taught that the Loch Ness monster is real - in an attempt by religious teachers to disprove Charles Darwin's theory of evolution. Pupils attending privately-run Christian schools in the southern state of Louisiana will learn from textbooks next year, which claim Scotland's most famous mythological beast is a living creature.
How performance art took over (Guardian)
Marina Abramovic's head-to-heads with her audience have been captured in a new film, while The Tanks, the world's first gallery dedicated to performance artists, is opening at London's Tate Modern. Adrian Searle reports on the boom in live art.
David Bruce has 42 Kindle books on Amazon.com with 250 anecdotes in each book. Each book is $1, so for $42 you can buy 10,500 anecdotes. Search for "Funniest People," "Coolest People, "Most Interesting People," "Kindest People," "Religious Anecdotes," "Maximum Cool," and "Resist Psychic Death."
The origin of the almanac can be traced back to ancient ____?____ astronomy, when tables of planetary periods were produced in order to predict lunar and planetary phenomena.
Onyx is a banded variety of chalcedony. The colors of its bands range from white to almost every color (save some shades, such as purple or blue). Commonly, specimens of onyx contain bands of black and/or white.
Onyx comes through Latin (of the same spelling), from the Greek ????, meaning "claw" or "fingernail". With its fleshtone color, onyx can be said to resemble a fingernail. The English word "nail" is cognate with the Greek word.
Source
Alan J was first, and correct, with:
Onyx
Charlie replied:
Onyx
Adam answered:
Calcium?
BttbBob responded:
Onyx, a form of Chalcedony (which includes Agate, Aventurine, Carnelian, Heliotrope et al). Its chemical structure is Silicon Dioxide - SiOČ. Onyx is, of course, commonly used in jewelry (rings, cameos), but was also used in ancient Egypt in bowls and other pottery. It was extensively used in artistic carvings by the Minoans on Crete. The biblical book 'Revelation' says the it is "foundation of the city of Heaven". The 1st century Roman naturalist, Pliny the Elder (a pretty smart guy) described it in Naturalis Historia.
Onyx makes pretty cool globes, too. This one is 21" tall and has a pewter compass and stand. $350. I want one... My birthday is coming up in late August. Make a note ~ Har!
Sally said:
Greetings from Hotlandia, where we are bracing for a 100o day today. I realize that other readers are having a boiling day too, but it makes me cooler to bellyache a bit here... (I bet the readers are saying to themselves, "Oh no, here she goes again...")
Okay, that out of the way, Onyx (silicon dioxide) comes through Latin, from the Greek ????, meaning "claw" or "fingernail."
PS: @Ed (The Thalia Street Gallery) Really funny comment today! (I usually depend on JoeS for my "laugh dejour..." He is still very funny too!)
Jim from CA, retired to ID, is vacationing.
Dale of Diamond Springs replied:
The mineral onyx.
MAM wrote:
Onyx
With its fleshtone color, onyx can be said to resemble a fingernail.
Marian's on vacation.
And, Joe S answered:
Carla says it's onyx. She knows about such things.
We had a WONDERFUL day with our grandson today!
CBS starts the night with '60 Minutes', followed by another '60 Minutes', then a RERUN'The Good Wife', followed by a RERUN'The Mentalist'.
NBC opens the night with 'Dateline', followed by a RERUN'America's Got Talent'.
ABC begins the night with a RERUN'America's So-Called Funniest Home Videos', followed by a FRESH'Secret Millionaire', then a FRESH'Extreme Makeover: Weight Loss Edition'.
The CW fills the night with what passes for local news and other fluffery.
Faux has a RERUN'American Dad', followed by a RERUN'The Cleveland Show', then a RERUN'Simpsons', followed by another RERUN'Simpsons', then a RERUN'Family Guy', followed by another RERUN'Family Guy'.
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 'Big Bang Theory', followed by yet another old 'Big Bang Theory'.
A&E has 'Criminal Minds', another 'Criminal Minds', followed by a FRESH'The Glades', then a FRESH'Longmire'.
AMC offers 'The Walking Dead', another 'The Walking Dead', followed by the SEASON PREMIERE'The Walking Dead', and another 'The Walking Dead'.
BBC -
[6:00AM] RAMSAY'S KITCHEN NIGHTMARES - SEASON 2-Ep 4 - La Riviera
[7:00AM] RAMSAY'S KITCHEN NIGHTMARES REVISITED - SEASON 2U-Episode 2
[8:00AM] PLANET EARTH-Mountains
[9:00AM] PLANET EARTH-Fresh Water
[10:00AM] JAMES MAY'S TOY STORIES - SEASON 1-Ep 1 Lego
[11:00AM] JAMES MAY'S TOY STORIES - SEASON 1-Ep 2 Slotcar Racetrack
[12:00PM] TOP GEAR - SEASON 7-Episode 4
[1:00PM] TOP GEAR - SEASON 3-Episode 4
[2:00PM] TOP GEAR - SEASON 3-Episode 5
[3:00PM] TOP GEAR - SEASON 3-Episode 6
[4:00PM] TOP GEAR - SEASON 2-Episode 4
[5:00PM] TOP GEAR - SEASON 14-Episode 6 (90 min)
[6:30PM] TOP GEAR SEASON 15 SPECIAL
[8:00PM] CONAN THE BARBARIAN
[10:30PM] CLASH OF THE TITANS
[1:00AM] CONAN THE BARBARIAN-Conan the Barbarian
[3:30AM] TOP GEAR - SEASON 14-Episode 6 (90 min)
[5:00AM] TOP GEAR - SEASON 3-Episode 4 (ALL TIMES EDT)
Bravo has 'Real Housewives Of NJ', another 'Real Housewives Of NJ', followed by a FRESH'Real Housewives Of NJ', then another FRESH'Real Housewives Of NJ'.
Comedy Central has the movie 'Talladega Nights: The Ballad Of Ricky Bobby', followed by the movie 'Blades Of Glory'.
FX has the movie 'Spider-Man 2', followed by the movie 'Spider-Man 3'.
History has 'Ice Road Truckers', another 'Ice Road Truckers', followed by a FRESH'Ice Road Truckers', then a FRESH'Shark Wranglers'.
IFC -
[6:00AM] Dark Mirror
[7:45AM] Exam
[10:00AM] Affliction
[12:30PM] Whitest Kids U'Know
[12:45PM] Freaks and Geeks-Noshing and Moshing
[1:45PM] Freaks and Geeks-Smooching and Mooching
[2:45PM] Freaks and Geeks-The Little Things
[3:45PM] Freaks and Geeks-Discos and Dragons
[4:45PM] The Hearse
[7:00PM] Dark Mirror
[8:45PM] Cop Land
[11:00PM] Comedy Bang! Bang!-Seth Rogen Wears a Plaid Shirt & Brown Pants
[11:30PM] Bunk
[12:00AM] Valhalla Rising
[2:00AM] Under Still Waters
[4:00AM] Valhalla Rising (ALL TIMES EDT)
Sundance -
[6:00A] Police, Adjective
[8:00A] FREAKS AND GEEKS - Tests and Breasts (Episode 5, Season 1)
[9:00A] FREAKS AND GEEKS - I'm With the Band (Episode 6, Season 1)
[10:00A] FREAKS AND GEEKS - Carded and Discarded (Episode 7, Season 1)
[11:00A] FREAKS AND GEEKS - Girlfriends and Boyfriends (Episode 8, Season 1)
[12:00P] Thumbsucker
[1:40P] All God's Children Can Dance
[3:10P] Standing In The Shadows Of Motown
[5:00P] PUSH GIRLS - Everyone Stares (Episode 1, Season 1)
[5:30P] PUSH GIRLS - Watch Me (Episode 2, Season 1)
[6:00P] PUSH GIRLS - You Don't Get It (Episode 3, Season 1)
[6:30P] PUSH GIRLS - Hope It's Not Too Late (Episode 4, Season 1)
[8:00P] The Wednesdays
[8:15P] The Deep End
[11:45P] Uncertainty
[1:35A] The Deep End
[5:05A] Monsieur Hubert de Givenchy (ALL TIMES EDT)
SyFy has the movie 'Indiana Jones & The Last Crusade', followed by the movie 'War Of The Worlds'.
In this photo provided by Rob Shanahan, musician Ringo Starr, center, celebrates his 72nd birthday with his wife Barbara Bach, left, and musician Joe Walsh, right, at The Hard Rock Cafe, Saturday, July 7, 2012, in Nashville, Tenn.
Photo by Rob Shanahan
Like a rolling stone, a traveling guitar museum is searching for a home.
The National Guitar Museum features ancient stringed instruments from Persia, the first electric guitar, and ultra-modern experiments that would be at home in a sci-fi movie. But the recession of recent years hasn't been kind to museums and nonprofits, so the founders decided to go on tour before putting down roots.
"Our initial plan was to take it on the road for five years, and then kind of find out which city was the most hospitable," said H.P. Newquist, a Connecticut writer and former editor of Guitar magazine who is director of the traveling museum.
The exhibit is currently in Pittsburgh at the Carnegie Science Center, where on a recent afternoon young children scampered over the world's largest guitar, a 40-foot version of the famous Gibson Flying V from the late 1950s. Other visitors plucked at an amplified Diddly Bow, a one-string instrument used by some blues musicians in the South that traces its origin back to Africa.
The exhibit features famous rock-n-roll classics like an early fender Stratocaster, but also many surprises. There's a 1931 Frying Pan aluminum guitar, considered to be the first electric steel guitar ever produced. The inspiration? Guitarists in popular Hawaiian music bands of the era who needed more volume to be heard on stage.
Director Christopher Nolan shows off his hands after leaving his handprints in cement during a hand and footprint ceremony in the forecourt of the Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, California July 7, 2012.
Photo by Mario Anzuoni
Democratic Representative Barney Frank wed his longtime partner, James Ready, on Saturday, becoming the first sitting congressman to enter into a same-sex marriage.
Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick officiated the ceremony and added some levity by saying Frank, 72, and Ready, 42, had vowed to love each other through Democratic and Republican administrations alike, and even through appearances on Fox News, according to Al Green, a Democratic congressman from Texas.
"Barney was beaming," said Green, who attended the ceremony. He added that Frank, a champion of gay rights and the sweeping reform of Wall Street, shed a tear during the ceremony.
After exchanging their vows, Frank and Ready embraced each other, Green said. "It was no different than any other wedding I've attended when you have two people who are in love with each other," Green said.
Colombian artist Fernando Botero is celebrating his 80th birthday in the renowned sculpture centre of Pietrasanta in Tuscany with a new exhibition of statues, including huge cats, horses and large women.
"I feel at home here, the mountains and flowers make me think of Antioch" in Colombia, Botero told AFP in the medieval Saint Augustine church, where six of his sculptures and 40 drawings and watercolours from the 1970s are on show.
Six of his giant sculptures tower over visitors in the cathedral square in the dusty town, which has been home to master artisans down the centuries.
The exhibition of 80 works looks back over Botero's career and pays homage to his mix of Columbian and European styles in paintings and sculptures always united by their proportionally exaggerated figures -- the master's trademark.
"My paintings have nothing of 'magic realism' about them, no-one floats in space or is chased by yellow butterflies. It's an improbable style, but not impossible," said Botero, whose works capture the world with a humourous slant.
People in 70's themed costumes participate in the Schlagermove festival in Hamburg July 7, 2012. Thousands took part in the event, which is based on songs and fashion from the seventies.
Photo by Fabian Bimmer
Nobel literature laureate Gabriel Garcia Marquez, arguably best known for his "One Hundred Years of Solitude," is suffering fromsenile dementia, his brother says.
The 85-year-old author's brother Jaime told El Universal in Mexico, where Garcia Marquez lives, that he speaks to the 1982 Nobel winner nearly every day from their native Colombia, hoping to help keep some of his memories alive.
"What he has are some memory issues; in our family, we all end up with senile dementia. I am starting to get some of the onset complications and he already is in the throes of it," said Jaime Garcia Marquez.
He said it had been a very slow downward slide for his author brother, who has had some symptoms of the condition since 1999, when he was treated for lymphatic cancer -- a condition which nearly killed him.
The author then underwent chemotherapy treatment, which sped up the pace of memory loss, his brother added.
Justin Bieber is used to attracting crowds. But he had at least one follower too many when somebody tailed him on a Los Angeles freeway, and it led to a speeding ticket for the teen idol.
The singer of "Boyfriend" and "Baby" was cited for driving in excess of 65 mph at about 10:45 a.m. Friday, after calls came in complaining of a freeway chase on southbound U.S. Highway 101 near Studio City, said Officer Ming Hsu of the California Highway Patrol.
The 18-year-old crooner told officers he was being chased bypaparazzi, and investigators confirmed he was being followed by at least one vehicle, Hsu said.
The claim of a chase is backed by an unlikely eyewitness, Los Angeles City Councilman Dennis Zine, who called authorities after seeing Bieber's distinctive chrome Fisker Karma being chased by five or six other cars.
On his morning commute to City Hall, Zine, who spent 33 years as a police officer, said he saw Bieber's sports car drive up behind him and zoom around him, weaving wildly in and out of traffic while five or six other cars gave chase.
A model displays a creation made from plastic spoons during a fashion competition during the Durban July horseracing event July 7, 2012.
Photo by Rogan Ward
Authorities say a two people were stabbed and one was also bitten before a show at the New York City music venue Webster Hall.
Harley Flanagan, a founder of the hard-core punk band the Cro-Mags, was arrested on assault charges. Published reports say the victims were current members of the group.
The violence happened Friday night during the CBGB Festival. CBGB representatives say in a statement that the disturbance shouldn't overshadow the events, which included free concerts in Times Square and Central Park.
CBGB was once a famed Manhattan rock venue where bands like The Talking Heads performed in the early 1980s. The venue closed in 2006. The festival is an attempt to revive the CBGB brand.
Women compete in a race in high heels in central Moscow July 7, 2012. Participants raced in high heels over a 50 metre (55 yard)- long course for a chance to win 100,000 roubles ($3,043) to spend at an online clothes shop, according to the organisers.
Photo by Maxim Shemetov
Eighty-four years ago, New York Yankees great Lou Gehrig hit a home run into the bleachers and the hands of a diehard fan at a 1928 World Series game. The three-run homer brought in Babe Ruth and led the Bronx Bombers to a 9-3 victory over their rivals, the St. Louis Cardinals.
Now, that historic ball is up for auction by a family hoping to help pay off their son's medical school debt.
Online pre-bidding for the famous baseball had already exceeded $33,000 Friday on the website for Hunt Auctions. It estimated that the ball would sell in the range of $100,000 and $200,000 based upon its condition and rich history.
Elizabeth Gott, who has had the prized ball in her family for generations, said selling it was a difficult decision.
A whirling dervish performs a traditional Sufi dance during a show, which is part of the Arabic Traditional Show held weekly in different cities in the country, near the El Ain El Sokhna port in Suez, 140 km (87 miles) east of Cairo, July 6, 2012.
Photo by Amr Abdallah Dalsh
Adolf Hitler personally intervened to protect a Jewish man who had been his commanding officer during World War One, according to a letter unearthed by the Jewish Voice from Germany newspaper.
The letter, composed in August 1940 by Heinrich Himmler, head of the Nazis' feared paramilitary SS, said Ernst Hess, a judge, should be spared persecution or deportation "as per the Fuehrer's wishes."
Hess, a decorated World War One hero who briefly commanded Hitler's company in Flanders, worked as a judge until Nazi racial laws forced him to resign in 1936. The same year he was beaten up by Nazi thugs outside his house, the paper said.
Hess and his family moved for a time to a German-speaking area of northern Italy but were then forced to return to Germany where he discovered Hitler's protection order had been revoked.
He spent the rest of World War Two doing slave labor but he escaped death partly thanks to the fact that his wife was a Gentile. Hess's sister died in the Auschwitz death camp but his mother managed to escape to Switzerland.
A girl poses for a photograph in front of a 3D painting at the 2012 Magic Art Special Exhibition in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province July 7, 2012. The exhibition will be open till August 6.
Photo by Carlos Barria
Officials at the old Fort Sumner Museum say the famous outlaw's 2000-pound tombstone was restored this week after vandals tipped it over and damaged it last month.
De Baca County authorities say other graves in the cemetery were also vandalized and thieves broke into the old Fort Sumner Museum. Three antique rifles and a shotgun were stolen from the museum.
Museum officials say an air conditioning unit has been fixed and the exhibits are open to the public.
A sun bear reacts to triple-digit temperatures at the Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha, Neb., Friday, July 6, 2012. The temperature reached 103 degrees Fahrenheit (39.5 Celsius) Friday.
Photo by Nati Harnik
You have reached the Home page of BartCop Entertainment.
Make yourself home, take your shoes off...
Go ahead, scratch it if it itches.
The idea is to have fun.
Do you have something to say?
Anything that increased your blood pressure, or, even better, amused or entertained?
Do you have a great album no one's heard?
How about a favorite TV show, movie, book, play, cartoon, or legal amusement?
A popular artist that just plain pisses you off?
A box set the whole world should own?
Vile, filthy rumors about Republican hypocrites?
Just plain vile, filthy rumors?
wrote:
answered:
