I think it’s quite possible that it gets released this summer. Obviously we won’t know for sure until it happens.
I imagine its worth diminishes as she gets older. No one would want to see her sex tape when she’s in her 40s and 50s when she looks old. The people who would make money off something like that have more to gain by publishing it when she closely matches (physically) how she looks on the tape than by when she doesn’t.
In the early 90s, a digital typeface designed in the 80s – but based on the letterforms used in a Roman column completed in 113 AD – became the go-to typeface for movie poster designers. (Reminder: everything is a remix.) It was used on posters for movies like The Bodyguard, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, Children of Men, and Quiz Show. This Vox video details the rise of the Trajan typeface in movie poster design and why its not used that often by big movies anymore.
President Obama is heading to Africa this week for the first time since he left office. In preparation, he shared a recommended summer reading list that’s heavy on African authors. Here’s the full list:
Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
A true classic of world literature, this novel paints a picture of traditional society wrestling with the arrival of foreign influence, from Christian missionaries to British colonialism. A masterpiece that has inspired generations of writers in Nigeria, across Africa, and around the world.
A Grain of Wheat by Ngugi wa Thiong’o
A chronicle of the events leading up to Kenya’s independence, and a compelling story of how the transformative events of history weigh on individual lives and relationships.
Long Walk to Freedom by Nelson Mandela
Mandela’s life was one of the epic stories of the 20th century. This definitive memoir traces the arc of his life from a small village, to his years as a revolutionary, to his long imprisonment, and ultimately his ascension to unifying President, leader, and global icon. Essential reading for anyone who wants to understand history – and then go out and change it.
Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
From one of the world’s great contemporary writers comes the story of two Nigerians making their way in the U.S. and the UK, raising universal questions of race and belonging, the overseas experience for the African diaspora, and the search for identity and a home.
The Return by Hisham Matar
A beautifully-written memoir that skillfully balances a graceful guide through Libya’s recent history with the author’s dogged quest to find his father who disappeared in Gaddafi’s prisons.
The World As It Is by Ben Rhodes
It’s true, Ben does not have African blood running through his veins. But few others so closely see the world through my eyes like he can. Ben’s one of the few who’ve been with me since that first presidential campaign. His memoir is one of the smartest reflections I’ve seen as to how we approached foreign policy, and one of the most compelling stories I’ve seen about what it’s actually like to serve the American people for eight years in the White House.
Each of us has a deep need to forgive and to be forgiven. After much reflection on the process of forgiveness, Tutu has seen that there are four important steps to healing: Admitting the wrong and acknowledging the harm; Telling one’s story and witnessing the anguish; Asking for forgiveness and granting forgiveness; and renewing or releasing the relationship. Forgiveness is hard work. Sometimes it even feels like an impossible task. But it is only through walking this fourfold path that Tutu says we can free ourselves of the endless and unyielding cycle of pain and retribution.
The graves of both tragic Prince Johns, located at
St. Mary Magdalene Church in Sandringham.
On the left is Prince Alexander John, the sixth child and third son of Edward VII and Alexandra of Denmark. He was born prematurely on April 6th, 1871, and died the following day.
On the right is Prince John Charles Francis, the sixth child and fifth son of George V and Mary of Teck. John was diagnosed with epilepsy at age 4, and was sent to live at
Sandringham House
to be cared for by his nanny, Charlotte “Lala” Bill, and kept out of the public eye. He was also acknowledged to have had some form of learning disability, and possibly an intellectual disability as well. Some more recent researchers have theorized some of the young prince’s behaviours were consistent with a diagnosis of autism. He died at the age of 13, following a severe seizure.
I’ve loved learning more about John from @firstwindsor and seeing that the public perception of him as being hidden away and a shameful secret in his family is so inaccurate. It’s made me like that generation of royals a lot more to know that they were genuinely doing what they thought was best for a little boy who they loved with all their heart.
I know you’ve heard it a thousand times before. But it’s true – hard work pays off. If you want to be good, you have to practice, practice, practice. If you don’t love something, then don’t do it.
ST. LOUIS — A St. Louis jury on Thursday awarded nearly $4.7 billion in total damages to 22 women and their families after they claimed asbestos in Johnson & Johnson talcum powder contributed to their ovarian cancer in the first case against the company that focused on asbestos in the powder.
The jury announced the $4.14 billion award in punitive damages shortly after awarding $550 million in compensatory damages after a six-week trial in St. Louis Circuit Court.
Johnson & Johnson called the verdict the result of an unfair process that allowed the women to sue the company in Missouri despite most of them not living in the state and said it would appeal, as it has in previous cases that found for women who sued the company.
“Johnson & Johnson remains confident that its products do not contain asbestos and do not cause ovarian cancer and intends to pursue all available appellate remedies,” spokeswoman Carol Goodrich said.
Mark Lanier, lead counsel for the plaintiffs, said in a statement that Johnson & Johnson had covered up evidence of asbestos in their products for more than 40 years.
Medical experts testified during the trial that asbestos, a known carcinogen, is intermingled with mineral talc, which is the primary ingredient in Johnson & Johnson’s Baby Powder and Shower to Shower products. The plaintiffs’ lawyers said asbestos fibers and talc particles were found in the ovarian tissues of many of the women.
“We hope this verdict will get the attention of the J&J board and that it will lead them to better inform the medical community and the public about the connection between asbestos, talc, and ovarian cancer,” Lanier said. “The company should pull talc from the market before causing further anguish, harm, and death from a terrible disease.”
During closing arguments on Wednesday, Lanier told the jurors this case was the first where jurors saw documents showing that Johnson & Johnson knew its products contained asbestos and didn’t warn consumers, The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.
The company has been sued by more than 9,000 women who claim its talcum powder contributed to their ovarian cancer. Johnson & Johnson has consistently denied that its products can be linked to the cancer.
Goodrich said the verdict awarding all the women the same amount despite differences in their circumstances showed evidence in the case was overwhelmed by prejudice created when so many plaintiffs are allowed to sue the company in one lawsuit.
“Every verdict against Johnson & Johnson in this court that has gone through the appeals process has been reversed and the multiple errors present in this trial were worse than those in the prior trials which have been reversed,” she said.
Lawyers for the plaintiffs said punitive damage awards are limited by state law to five times the amount of compensatory damages awarded and defense lawyers probably would file a motion to reduce the award.
Six of the 22 plaintiffs in the latest trial have died from ovarian cancer. Five plaintiffs were from Missouri, with others from states that include Arizona, New York, North Dakota, California, Georgia, the Carolinas and Texas.
One of the plaintiffs, Gail Ingham, 73, of O’Fallon, Missouri, told The Post-Dispatch that she was diagnosed with stage-3 ovarian cancer in 1985 and underwent chemotherapy treatments, surgeries and drug treatments for a year before being declared cancer free in the early 1990s.
Ingham, who used baby powder for decades, said she joined the lawsuit because women who use baby powder “need to know what’s in there. They need to know what’s going on. Women need to know because they’re putting it on their babies.”
“Many years before that, one of the boys came down with the pox. Maester Luwin said if he made it through the night, he’d live. But it would be a very long night. So I sat with him all through the darkness. Listened to his ragged little breaths. His coughing, his whimpering.”
“Mother of dragons, Daenerys thought. Mother of monsters. What have I unleashed upon the world? A queen I am, but my throne is made of burned bones, and it rests on quicksand. Without dragons, how could she hope to hold Meereen, much less win back Westeros? I am the blood of the dragon, she thought. If they are monsters, so am I.”
Archaeologists scanning a Mexican pyramid for damage following September’s devastating earthquake have uncovered traces of an ancient temple.
The temple is nestled inside the Teopanzolco pyramid in Morelos state, 70km (43 miles) south of Mexico City.
It is thought to date back to 1150 and to belong to the Tlahuica culture, one of the Aztec peoples living in central Mexico.
The structure is dedicated to Tláloc, the Aztec rain god.
Archaeologists say it would have measured 6m by 4m (20ft by 13ft). Among the temple’s remains they also found an incense burner and ceramic shards.
The discovery was made when scientists from Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) used a radar to check for structural damage to the Teopanzolco pyramid in Cuernavaca. Read more.
CAROLE’S SURROGACY MAFIA! haha. Anyway, unfortunately royal laws haven’t caught up with technology or society so I don’t believe there’s any law about whether a child born to a surrogate could be in the line of succession. I’m quite torn because royals go first and foremost off genetics so it would make me think that they could be in line but in the UK the surrogate is legally considered the mother of the child until she gives up parental rights which is essentially like the royals adopting their own child. And adopted kids can’t be in the line of succession. I don’t know about every other monarchy but I know in Norway surrogacy is illegal as it caused a scandal when MM went to India to look after twins born through surrogacy for a gay couple she’s friends with. I think it’s unfortunately a question without a clear answer. There are so many ways that monarchies haven’t caught up with modern society- there are no title systems for same sex couples for example- and this is one of them
“Meghan, in her Givenchy trouser suit, at the Famine Memorial” – that’s golden! I hope this description sticks around. And every time Irish visit is mentioned MM to be known as “in her Givenchy trouser suit, at the Famine Memorial”. Like Kate is still being dragged for pink coat on Ground Zero memorial (funny side note – Camilla wore a pink suit to Ground Zero in 2005, guess that’s where Kate got the idea https://www.cbsnews.com/pictures/royal-visit-ground-zero/ and absolutely noone cared or felt insulted by this shade of pink).
But what I find absolutely mind-blowing is Dior at RAF100. That’s just such a huge faux-pas. I’m not taking about the dress itself or black colour, overall MM looked fine. But absolutely inappropriate. First, This sort of services in the bound-duty of BRF. They all wear uniforms to show their ranks. Men wear literally uniforms, royal ladies wear their most distinct uniform like outfit. It’s not by chance that after RAF100 everyone is talking that Kate has settled into uniform. Yes, she did and yes that’s how it should be. And then there is MM with hollywood glamoure in haut couture black dress. Second, the price. We don’t have so far the numbers, but I really hope that roaly reporters and bloggers pest Dior for the quotes on such bespoken. My guess: the costs of the dress will easily surpass the combine costs of royal ladies outfits. That’s the Queen, 2 future Queens, Princess Royal, Countess Wessex. What sort of arrogance MM must have to think that she’s worthy of that much! This brings to the third point, who paid for it? MM sugars are screaming that she has millions of her own. Please! Total BS. Not even gonna entertain this notion. If Charles’ credit card pays for it, then why he allows such extravaganza? Personally, I don’t think Charles would approve the bills like that. My guess is that he gave them a budget, they have already blew it long time ago. And this Dior is a freebie. Which is even less acceptable than millions spent on clothes.
Oh I hope the reporters will spin and spin and spin the reciepts. And when push comes to shove how Charles will play it out? What is worse for him? Acknowledge freebies which opens doors so many other freebies probes? Or let total sum of MM clothes+jewels be attributed to his allowance and basically label MM a gold-digger?
Thanks for sending this in! I’m very curious about how much that Dior cost.
As for the top woman of the realm, the queen Cersei Lannister, she is a beautiful expression of arbitrary terror, combining shapely grace with limitless evil in just the right measure to scare a man to death while rendering him helpless with desire. She is Kundry and Lilith, Lulu and Carmen. She is Proust’s mother, who tormented him so much by neglecting to climb the stairs to kiss him good night that he spent his entire life writing a long novel in revenge. Superbly equipped by the cold edges of her classically sculpted looks to incarnate the concept of the femme fatale, Lena Headey beams Cersei’s radiant malevolence at such a depth into the viewer’s mind that she reawakens a formative disturbance: did my mother look after me because she loved me, or was she doing all that only because she had to?
Plotwise, Cersei can thus raise a long-running question: Must she behave dreadfully in order to protect her dreadful son Joffrey, the heir to the throne, or is she just dreadful anyway? Would we, in the same position, be sufficiently dreadful to protect our offspring from a richly deserved oblivion?
Thanks! This explains why she was having hormonal melasma but drinking alcohol at the same time–failed IVF. I think the one who knows all about surrogates is Elton John.
video for IG Harry at very end – he looks so subdued. DM comments are rough saying he has lost his spark, he is not the Captain of his soul anymore and a lot of comments on the CDAN blind about her yachting pics and video and Harry paying to shut it down. It is amazing to see this for a member of the BRF. Common knowledge that she was a pro. Pity for Harry. Also saying he did not know. Sure KP will love a “he did not know” narrative. Of course he knew.
few comments on the IRE tour. The reason royals go to IRE (PC goes at least twice each year) is to advance the reconciliation process. It is hard for someone not familiar with the history to understand the bitterness and ambivalence towards reconciliation with the English especially. But since they share common challenges and a deeply integrated economy it is vital to both countries to move on. PC and HM are admired because they have made serious efforts with some personal cost to advance this very important process. Nothing Harry and Meghan did contributed to this effort. Harry seemed unprepared several times. Meghan seemed more interested in posing. The mistakes made were serious ones – a Brit Duchess commenting on the politics of the Republic? Harry ham fisted insensitive remarks at the Memorial. That was shocking as if none of his aides actually knew what caused almost 2 mil deaths? The extravagant cost of her clothes. Shutting down high traffic tourist sites.
The only reason for this visit seems to have been to allow Markle to march around merching. The novelty of the location perhaps getting her the media coverage that has been lagging. The notion it was an “overseas” tour is absurd – people commute between the two islands for work. It seems to me IRE got chosen cause she wanted an overseas tour and no visa issues because there is no border between the UK and IRE. A trip to the continent would have required visas for the American Duchess.
Thanks for sending this in!
Agree except on the visas for an American. Not true.
“However, one obvious missing link in an otherwise flawless tour de couture was the glaring lack of Irish designers incorporated anywhere into her wardrobe. Wearing forest green for your first night just won’t suffice as flying the Irish fashion flag when you’ve displayed outfits worth over €10,000 over the course of 36 hours.”
At least someone noticed. I don’t know why she missed this incredibly obvious thing. It’s particularly glaring when she did local designers during her “regional tour” and the “Meghan Effect” was touted everywhere. Yes, they were all put forward by the London Fashion Council, but it’s not that hard to google for a local bag or necklace. Heck, the press was making lists for her.
It’s also going to look horrible if she “champions” Australian designers during Invictus.
House of Brat 