James Netter: "5 Franchises With One Weak Character (And How To Fix Them)" (Cracked)
Even when you have a great piece of fiction, sometimes one of your characters just falls flat. Maybe it's their backstory, maybe the author didn't know what to do with them, or maybe they're surrounded by better characters that highlight how boring their stupid suckass faces are. What's more, these character's faults can affect the overall quality of their story, no matter how good it is. Looking back, though, it's clear how some of these characters forgotten by their plots could have better served their story.
Tiny Dancers Among Us: Jordan Matter Captures Amazing Photos Of Dancing Kids (Design You Trust)
Jordan Matter is a talented portrait and dance photographer from New York City, whose work has been featured on the BBC, CBS and NBC and newspapers around the world. Best known for his previous works "Dancers Among Us", "Dancers After Dark" and "Athletes Among Us", Jordan was inspired by his kids, Hudson and Salish, to create his latest project titled "Tiny Dancers Among Us".
David Bruce: "Shakespeare's 12 Comedies: Retellings in Prose" (Amazon)
This book contains easy-to-read retellings of these 12 comedies by William Shakespeare:
All's Well that Ends Well, As You Like It, The Comedy of Errors, Love's Labor's Lost, Measure for Measure, The Merchant of Venice, The Merry Wives of Windsor, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Much Ado About Nothing, The Taming of the Shrew, Twelfth Night, The Two Gentlemen of Verona. By reading these books in modern English, you should be able to understand Shakespeare's early English plays much better. This book is ON SALE for 99 cents for a few days. Regular Price: $9.99. Over 1300 pages.
Born Estelle Scher, this American actress got her start in Yiddish theater and as a comedian in the Catskills borscht belt resorts. She later won an Outstanding Supporting Actress Emmy, and a Golden Globe, for her portrayal of a Sicilian mother on a popular sitcom. By what name is she better known?
Emerald is a gemstone and a variety of the mineral beryl colored green by trace amounts of chromium and sometimes vanadium. Beryl has a hardness of 7.5-8 on the Mohs scale.[2]Most emeralds are highly included, so their toughness (resistance to breakage) is classified as generally poor.
Colombia is by far the world's largest producer of emeralds, constituting 50-95% of the world production, with the number depending on the year, source and grade. Emerald production in Colombia has increased drastically in the last decade, increasing by 78% from 2000 to 2010.
Zambia is the world's second biggest producer, with its Kafubu River area deposits (Kagem Mines) about 45 km (28 mi) southwest of Kitwe responsible for 20% of the world's production of gem quality stones in 2004. In the first half of 2011 the Kagem mines produced 3.74 tons of emeralds.
Source
Randall was first and correct with:
Colombia
Mark. said:
The country of Colombia produces the most emeralds, about 70-90% of the
market.
Alan J wrote:
Colombia.
mj replied:
Again with the guessing
I think it's Brazil, but if it isn't, it's one of it's neighbors.
David of Moon Valley responded:
Colombia?! Really? my new fact for the day..Thank you!
John I from Hawai`i says,
"Australia."
zorch wrote:
Colombia
Jim from CA, retired to ID, said:
Colombia
Billy in Cypress replied:
Colombia, in South America, is the country that mines and produces 70-90% of the world's natural emeralds. Also, many emeralds, rubies and sapphires sold commercially are synthetic in origin. Emeralds are my wife's favorite gemstone. Emerald is the birthstone for the month of May. CpPDJT-ID's birthstone is the unique gold colored turdstone, a hugely rare stone sometimes found in DC, NYC and Mar-a-Lago. The turdstone can be authenticated by its pungent smell of corruption, misogyny, narcissism and rampant prejudice.
Dale o Diamond Springs, Norcali answered:
Columbia, home of the world's favorite green gemstone!
The Ranking Member of the House Intelligence Committee gives an update on the status of the investigation into Russia involvement in the 2016 election.
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 begins the night with a RERUN'NCIS', followed by a RERUN'Bull', then '48 Hours'.
Scheduled on a FRESHStephen Colbert are John Legend, Kelly Osbourne, and Dr. John.
Scheduled on a FRESHJames Corden, OBE, are Amanda Peet, Kal Penn, Max Minghella, and Kaleo.
NBC starts the night with a FRESH'The Voice', followed by a FRESH'Great News', then another FRESH'Great News', followed by a FRESH'Chicago Fire'.
Scheduled on a FRESHJimmy Fallon are John Oliver, Patton Oswalt, and James Arthur.
Scheduled on a FRESHSeth Meyers are Caitlyn Jenner, Buzz Bissinger, Nick Frost, and Lucius.
Scheduled on a FRESHCarson 'The Scab' Daly are Sanaa Lathan, Tennis System, and Reid Scott.
ABC opens the night with a RERUN'The Middle', followed by a RERUN'American Housewife', then a RERUN'Speechless', followed by a FRESH'Imaginary Mary', then a FRESH'Marvel's Agents Of SHIELD'.
On a RERUNJimmy Kimmel (from 4/3/17) are Chris Evans, Amanda Peet, and Mastodon.
The CW offers a FRESH'The Flash', followed by a FRESH'iZombie'.
Faux has a FRESH'Brooklyn Nine-Nine', followed by a FRESH'The Mick', then a FRESH'Prison Break'.
MY recycles an old 'The X-Files', followed by another old 'The X-Files'.
AMC offers the movie 'King Kong', followed by the movie 'Sherlock Holmes'.
BBC -
[6:00AM] DOCTOR WHO - SEASON 4 - EPISODE 2-The Fires of Pompeii
[7:00AM] DOCTOR WHO - SEASON 4 - EPISODE 3-Planet of the Ood
[8:00AM] DOCTOR WHO - SEASON 4 - EPISODE 4-The Sontaran Stratagem-Part 1.
[9:00AM] DOCTOR WHO - SEASON 4 - EPISODE 5-The Poison Sky-Part 2.
[10:00AM] DOCTOR WHO - SEASON 4 - EPISODE 6-The Doctor's Daughter
[11:00AM] DOCTOR WHO - SEASON 4 - EPISODE 7-The Unicorn and The Wasp
[12:00PM] CSI: MIAMI - SEASON 5 - EPISODE 16-Broken Home
[1:00PM] CSI: MIAMI - SEASON 5 - EPISODE 17-A Grizzly Murder
[2:00PM] CSI: MIAMI - SEASON 5 - EPISODE 18-Triple Threat
[3:00PM] CSI: MIAMI - SEASON 5 - EPISODE 19-Bloodline
[4:00PM] CSI: MIAMI - SEASON 5 - EPISODE 20-Rush
[5:00PM] CSI: MIAMI - SEASON 5 - EPISODE 21-Just Murdered
[6:00PM] CSI: MIAMI - SEASON 5 - EPISODE 22-Burned
[7:00PM] CSI: MIAMI - SEASON 5 - EPISODE 23-Kill Switch
[8:00PM] CSI: MIAMI - SEASON 5 - EPISODE 24-Born to Kill
[9:00PM] CSI: MIAMI - SEASON 6 - EPISODE 1-Dangerous Son
[10:00PM] CSI: MIAMI - SEASON 6 - EPISODE 2-Bang, Bang, Your Debt
[11:00PM] CSI: MIAMI - SEASON 6 - EPISODE 3-Cyber-lebrity
[12:00AM] CSI: MIAMI - SEASON 5 - EPISODE 19-Bloodline
[1:00AM] CSI: MIAMI - SEASON 5 - EPISODE 20-Rush
[2:00AM] CSI: MIAMI - SEASON 5 - EPISODE 21-Just Murdered
[3:00AM] CSI: MIAMI - SEASON 5 - EPISODE 22-Burned
[4:00AM] CSI: MIAMI - SEASON 5 - EPISODE 23-Kill Switch
[5:00AM] CSI: MIAMI - SEASON 5 - EPISODE 24-Born to Kill (ALL TIMES EDT)
Bravo has 'Real Housewives Of BH', followed by a FRESH'BH Social', then a FRESH'Real Housewives Of BH', another 'Real Housewives Of BH', followed by a FRESH'Watch What Happens Live'.
Comedy Central has 2 hours of old 'South Park', an hour of old 'Tosh.0', followed by a FRESH'Problematic With Moshe Kasher', and another old 'South Park'.
Scheduled on a FRESHThe Daily Show is Charlamagne Tha God.
Scheduled on a FRESH@Midnight are Orlando Jones, Nimesh Patel, and Arden Myrin.
FX has the movie 'The Equalizer', followed by the movie 'Taken 3', then a FRESH'The Americans'.
History has 'Forged In Fire', followed by a FRESH'Forged In Fire: Cutting Deeper', then a FRESH'Forged In Fire', followed by the FRESH'JFK Declassified: Tracking Oswald'.
IFC -
[6:00AM] THAT '70S SHOW-Black Dog
[6:30AM] EXODUS: GODS AND KINGS
[10:00AM] 28 WEEKS LATER
[12:15PM] DAYBREAKERS
[2:30PM] EXODUS: GODS AND KINGS
[6:00PM] THAT '70S SHOW-The Crunge
[6:30PM] THAT '70S SHOW-The Girl I Love
[7:00PM] THAT '70S SHOW-Misty Mountain Hop
[7:30PM] THAT '70S SHOW-Your Time Is Gonna Come
[8:00PM] THAT '70S SHOW-Babe, I'm Gonna Leave You
[8:30PM] THAT '70S SHOW-When the Levee Breaks
[9:00PM] THAT '70S SHOW-Whole Lotta Love
[9:30PM] THAT '70S SHOW-Battle of Evermore
[10:00PM] THAT '70S SHOW-Hey, Hey What Can I Do?
[10:30PM] THAT '70S SHOW-Bring It on Home
[11:00PM] THAT '70S SHOW-The Crunge
[11:30PM] THAT '70S SHOW-The Girl I Love
[12:00AM] THAT '70S SHOW-Misty Mountain Hop
[12:30AM] THAT '70S SHOW-Your Time Is Gonna Come
[1:00AM] THAT '70S SHOW-Babe, I'm Gonna Leave You
[1:30AM] THAT '70S SHOW-When the Levee Breaks
[2:00AM] THAT '70S SHOW-Whole Lotta Love
[2:30AM] THAT '70S SHOW-Battle of Evermore
[3:00AM] THAT '70S SHOW-Hey, Hey What Can I Do?
[3:30AM] THAT '70S SHOW-Bring It on Home
[4:00AM] BURKE & HARE (ALL TIMES EDT)
Sundance -
[6:00AM] All in the Family-The Threat
[6:35AM] All in the Family-Lionel Steps Out
[7:10AM] All in the Family-The Bunkers and the Swingers
[7:45AM] All in the Family-Mike's Appendix
[8:20AM] All in the Family-Edith Flips Her Wig
[8:55AM] All in the Family-The Locket
[9:30AM] All in the Family-Mike Comes Into Money
[10:05AM] The Professional
[12:32PM] The Devil's Advocate
[3:32PM] Mud
[6:32PM] Gone Baby Gone
[9:00PM] Hang 'Em High
[11:30PM] The Outlaw Josey Wales
[2:30AM] The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean
[5:30AM] The Andy Griffith Show-Ellie for Council (ALL TIMES EDT)
SyFy has 'Face Off', another 'Face Off', followed by a FRESH'Face Off', then a FRESH'Cosplay Melee'.
TBS:
Scheduled on a FRESHConan are Hank Azaria and Vir Das.
Former President Barack Obama hosts a conversation on civic engagement and community organizing, Monday, April 24, 2017, at the University of Chicago in Chicago. It's the former president's first public event of his post-presidential life in the place where he started his political career.
Photo by Charles Rex Arbogast
More than 96% of the voting members of the Writers Guild of America have authorized a strike against production companies.
The WGA released the results Monday, a day ahead of the resumption of contract negotiations on a master contract with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. A work stoppage could start as early as May 2, after the current three-year master contract has expired.
The AMPTP issued a statement in response to the strike authorization announcement: "The companies are committed to reaching a deal at the bargaining table that keeps the industry working. The 2007 Writers Strike hurt everyone. Writers lost more than $287 million in compensation that was never recovered, deals were cancelled, and many writers took out strike loans to make ends meet. We remain focused on our objective of reaching a deal with the WGA at the bargaining table when the guild returns on April 25th."
A total of 6,310 ballots were cast and 67.5% of eligible WGA members voted. The support was similar to the 2007 strike authorization, which received backing from 90% of the 5,507 guild members voting. The strike authorization voting period began April 19 and ended at noon PT Monday.
The vote was not open to all WGA West and WGA East members, but only to those who have worked under AMPTP contract during the past six years and those with 15 or more years in pension plan.
Jerome Waite, known by his spiritual name Rasfia, smokes a marijuana cigarette, during a rally to support the legalization of marijuana on Capitol Hill in Washington, Monday, April 24, 2017. Waite was later arrested. Smoking pot in public remains illegal everywhere in Washington.
Photo by Alex Brandon
Ontario has launched a pilot program to provide a guaranteed basic income to a few thousand people to test its effects on recipients and public finances, the Canadian province announced Monday.
Provincial Premier Kathleen Wynne said the program would provide a "basic income" for three years to 4,000 people living under the poverty line.
"We want to find out whether a basic income makes a positive impact in people's lives," Wynne said, adding that "everyone should benefit from Ontario's economic growth."
Income support payments will be as high as Can$16,989 ($12,582, or 11,600 euros) a year for an individual, or Can$24,027 for a couple, plus an additional Can$6,000 for the disabled.
The figures will be reduced for those holding part-time jobs -- they will receive 50 cents less for each dollar earned.
The psychedelic clouds in Edvard Munch's iconic "The Scream" have alternatively been interpreted as a metaphor for mental anguish or a literal depiction of volcanic fallout.
On Monday, scientists hypothesised that the Norwegian painter's inspiration may in fact have been rare clouds which form in cold places at high altitude.
The first version of "The Scream" was released in 1893. It depicts a dark humanlike figure clutching its head in apparent horror against the backdrop of a swirling, red-orange sky.
In 2004, American astronomers theorised that Munch had painted a sky brightly coloured by particle pollution from the 1883 Krakatoa volcanic eruption.
But the new paper, presented at a meeting of the European Geosciences Union in Vienna, said he more likely depicted a rare sighting of "mother-of-pearl" clouds over Oslo.
Several mummies and more than 1,000 figurines have been discovered at an ancient cemetery located at Luxor in Egypt, archaeologists reported.
A team of archaeologists with the Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities uncovered the funerary complex during the ministry's ongoing excavations at the site. The funerary complex contains multiple tombs that were originally built for a man named Userhat, who was a judge in Luxor sometime during what modern-day archaeologists call Egypt's New Kingdom (1550-1070 B.C.) period, the ministry said in a statement.
During the New Kingdom period, Egypt was unified, and it often controlled a large amount of territory in the Middle East and modern-day Sudan. After the New Kingdom ended, the complex was re-opened and more mummies and burials were put into the structure, the ministry said.
Researchers discovered a labyrinth of tunnels and chambers containing the remains of mummies and assorted human remains, as shown in photos released by the ministry. In some cases, the colors on the mummy coffins are well preserved, despite the passage of millennia.
Additionally, a "collection of ushabti figurines carved in faience, terracotta and wood was also unearthed," in the tomb complex, the ministry said in the statement. Ushabti figurines were frequently buried with the dead in ancient Egypt, and Egyptologists generally believe that ushabtis were buried with the dead so that the figurines could work for the deceased in the afterlife.
Anti-Semitic incidents, from bomb threats and cemetery desecration to assaults and bullying, have surged in the United States since the election of Donald Trump (R-Crooked), and a "heightened political atmosphere" played a role in the rise, the Anti-Defamation League said on Monday.
A sharp increase in the harassment of American Jews, including double the incidents of bullying of schoolchildren and vandalism at non-denominational grade schools, was cited in the ADL's "Audit of Anti-Semitic Incidents."
Overall, the number of acts targeting Jews and Jewish institutions rose 34 percent in 2016 to 1,266 in 2016 and jumped 86 percent in the first quarter of 2017, the ADL said.
"The 2016 presidential election and the heightened political atmosphere played a role in the increase," the ADL concluded in its report.
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson's (R-Oligarch) unusually quiet spokesperson has a new voice.
On Monday, the State Department announced that Heather Nauert will take over as spokesperson, replacing acting spokesperson Mark Toner, a career foreign service officer who served in postings across the world including Senegal, Poland, and Belgium.
Nauert comes to the State Department after 15 years as a television anchor and correspondent, most recently at Fox News, where she covered breaking news on the, according to the official State Dept. release, "top-rated morning cable news show, 'Fox and Friends.'"
The State Department's public diplomacy, including relations with the press, has come under plenty of scrutiny in the Trump administration. Tillerson prefers to run the department like he did ExxonMobil, shunning reporters and limiting transparency. In a break with tradition, Tillerson decided not to have reporters accompany him on overseas trips.
The department has also been slow to embrace the daily press briefing - an important symbol of transparency in U.S. foreign policy that began under Secretary of State John Foster Dulles in the 1950's - cancelling it for weeks at a time, and holding briefings only occasionally. The daily briefings are important not just for reporters, but for audiences around the world. Foreign leaders use the briefings to figure out U.S. foreign policy, as do many U.S. diplomats stationed overseas.
Published reports indicate that cable channel ESPN is preparing another round of cuts to its on-air talent, as parent company Walt Disney Co continues to try to right the ship at the popular network. Traditional cable TV viewers have flocked to cheaper alternatives, and Disney is still trying to solve its ESPN problem.
ESPN is expected to cut 40 jobs starting on May 1, including radio hosts, on-air personalities and writers. ESPN has made similar cuts in the past, laying off 300 employees in 2013 and another 300 employees in 2015. However, the next round of layoffs is expected to include familiar on-air talent.
The cost-cutting efforts at ESPN come in response to plummeting ratings and subscriber numbers. For the past two years, ESPN has been losing an average of about 300,000 subscribers per month. From 2011 to 2015, ESPN lost a total of 7 million subscribers. "Today's fans consume content in many different ways and we are in a continuous process of adapting to change and improving what we do. Inevitably that has consequences for how we utilize talent," Disney said in a statement.
For Disney investors, plummeting viewership and rising content costs is a losing formula.
Workers walk near street art depicting Britain's Queen Elizabeth with a pet dog, holding an EU flag in London, Britain, April 24, 2017.
Photo by Toby Melville
A white oak tree that has watched over a New Jersey community and a church for hundreds of years began its final bow Monday as crews began its removal and residents fondly remembered the go-to spot for formal photos, landmark for driving directions and the remarkable piece of natural history.
Crews at the Basking Ridge Presbyterian Church in Bernards began taking down the 600-year-old tree that was declared dead after it began showing rot and weakness during the last couple of years. They were due to return to the church Tuesday - weather permitting - to continue the process, which is expected to be completed by Wednesday.
The removal work drew lots of attention from residents of a bedroom community about 30 miles (48 kilometers) west of New York and other tree fans who saw it as a chance to bid a final farewell to their close friend. Hundreds of people came by during the day to watch the work, many appearing somber as they watched workers use chain saws to cut down limbs and branches.
The tree has been an important part of the community since the town's inception in the 1700s. Officials say it was the site of a picnic Gen. George Washington held with the Marquis de Lafayette, and the Rev. George Whitefield, a noted evangelist, preached to more than 3,000 people beneath the tree in 1740.
Arborists say the tree had stood for nearly 300 years before the church was built in 1717. It stands about 100 feet tall, has a trunk circumference of 18 feet and has a branch spread of roughly 150 feet. Its death was likely due to its age.
Tiny wooden figurines have stood upright "weaving" at appropriately sized looms for more than 2,100 years in a Chinese tomb containing the remains of a middle-age woman, a new study finds.
The discovery of the miniature scene astonished archaeologists, who were surveying an area slated for subway construction in Chengdu, a city in China's southwestern Sichuan province, in 2013. The looms may be small - the largest is about the size of a child's toy piano - but they're the earliest evidence on record of looms that could be used to weave patterns, the researchers said.
"We are very sure that the loom models from Chengdu are the earliest pattern looms around the world," said the study's lead researcher, Feng Zhao, the director of the China National Silk Museum in Hangzhou, China, and a professor at Donghua University in Shanghai.
It's unclear when and where the first looms were developed, but archaeologists have found ancient looms parts at a variety of sites. For instance, in China's eastern Zhejiang province archaeologists found an approximately 8,000-year-old loom from the Kuahuqiao archaeological site, and a roughly 7,000-year-old loom found at the Hemudu site, Zhao said. Other looms include pieces of Egyptian creations from about 4,000 and 3,400 years ago, respectively, and Greek looms illustrated on vases dating to about 2,400 years ago, the researchers said.
However, unlike their predecessors, pattern looms are used to weave a "complex kind of textile," Zhao told Live Science in an email. Weavers used this type of loom to create patterns by stringing up the weft (the crosswise yarn on the loom) and weaving the warp (the longitudinal yarn that is passed over and under the weft) through it, he said.
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