JustDuckie

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Homme de Plume: What I Learned Sending My Novel Out Under a Male Name (http://jezebel.com/homme-... http://i.kinja-img.com/ga... )

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"So, on a dim Saturday morning, I copy-pasted my cover letter and the opening pages of my novel from my regular e-mail into George’s account. I put in the address of one of the agents I’d intended to query under my own name. I didn’t expect to hear back for a few weeks, if at all. It would only be a few queries and then I’d close out my experiment. I began preparing another query, checking the submission requirements on the agency web site. When I clicked back, there was already a new message, the first one in the empty inbox. Mr. Leyer. Delighted. Excited. Please send the manuscript." - JustDuckie - -

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I get so much more writing & photography work as a guy than I do as myself. I like how I'll get rejected with criticism as a black woman, but the same exact words or picture will be bought immediately when people assume I'm a dude. - faboomama - - [ 1 ]

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Tattoo of parents fuels restaurant dream - Taipei Times (http://www.taipeitimes.co... http://www.taipeitimes.co... )

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"A teenage restaurant worker in Changhua County spent four years saving up to pay to have an image of his parents tattooed on his back after they perished in a car accident 14 years ago and had the work done last month, saying he wanted them to accompany him on his way to become a restaurateur. Wang Yu-kai (王煜凱), 19, said he barely remembers his parents, as he was only five years old when they died, and it was his grandparents who brought him up." - JustDuckie - -

"The tattoo artist spent four-and-a-half hours inking an image from a photo on Wang’s left shoulder, Wang said, adding that he was pleased with the result. There is a tinge of cuteness to the image, as his parents died young, he said. Under the image of his parents is a message in English: “Don’t forget the initial dream.” Now he carries his parents on his shoulder, he said." - JustDuckie - -

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Trail camera thought to record 2nd gray wolf in California - SFGate (http://www.sfgate.com/bay... http://ww3.hdnux.com/phot... )

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"State wildlife officials say they found evidence of a gray wolf roaming the wilds of Siskiyou County near the Oregon border, news that could reignite a debate over whether the wolf deserves protection. After receiving reports early this year of possible sightings, the state Department of Fish and Wildlife set up several remote trail cameras in southeastern Siskiyou County. One of those cameras captured an image of what may have been a wolf in May, but an examination of feces proved inconclusive. In June, biologists found an apparent wolf track and placed another camera. On July 24, they found the camera had captured images of what they believe is a lone gray wolf. The sighting comes a little more than a year after OR-7, a wolf wearing a tracking device who wandered between California and Oregon for three years, settled down and mated in southern Oregon, according to wildlife officials." - JustDuckie - -

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Man arrested on drug charges claims marijuana is salad | www.actionnewsjax.com (http://www.actionnewsjax.... )

1 decade ago from Bookmarklet - Comment - Hide - - [ 1 ] -

"A 26-year-old man was arrested after police found a pound of marijuana during a traffic stop. The St. Mary’s Police Department posted a photo of the marijuana in a sandwich bag on its Facebook page with a message for other marijuana users: “No matter how hard you try to convince us this green leafy stuff is salad and you’re just coming back from the store going to make a chef salad, Well Sous Check UP! A SALAD THIS IS NOT!!”" - JustDuckie - -

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How I Infiltrated a White Pride Facebook Group and Turned It into 'LGBT Southerners for Michelle Obama' | VICE | United States (http://www.vice.com/read/... )

1 decade ago from Bookmarklet - Comment - Hide - - [ 10 ] -

"It's easy to get into Confederate Facebook. Just go to a news article about a police shooting and scroll down to the comments. Most comment sections are linked to people's Facebook accounts, so you just have to find someone with a Confederate flag avatar expressing a racist opinion, click through to his or her profile, and select "Add Friend." Everyone in Confederate Facebook seems to accept friend requests from strangers, which I guess can be chalked up to Southern hospitality. Facebook's friend recommendations will quickly turn into an endless, mesmerizing stream of folks with names like Prepper Jeff and Amanda Rebel. Just keep clicking "Add Friend" over and over, and before you know it your Timeline is full of racist Minions memes and pictures of Looney Toons who are somehow mad at Al Sharpton. " - JustDuckie - -

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Ah. Thanks. - bentley - -

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(Texas) Man Throws Chainsaws At Cops During High Speed Chase (http://www.huffingtonpost... http://img.huffingtonpost... )

1 decade ago from Bookmarklet - Comment - Hide - - [ 3 ] -

"Police in Lufkin say an East Texas man is in custody after he was involved in an hour-long chase that involved eight law enforcement agencies, covered three counties and included chain saws being tossed at an officer by the fleeing driver. Authorities say 27-year-old Richard Kay finally was caught after troopers shot out two of his tires and the radiator of his pickup truck." - JustDuckie - -

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Texas man wants to live in Florida. - Kirsten - [ 3 ] -

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Dominic and I went to a Chinese restaurant over the weekend. Their soda menu listed "Dr. Pepper" as "白派博士", or "Dr. Pepper, Ph.D."

1 decade ago - Comment - Hide - - [ 13 ] -

It was not clear if this was an MD/PhD or if Dr. Pepper was strictly an academician. - JustDuckie - [ 4 ] -

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I wonder if his dissertation was a chemical analysis of all 23 flavors. - JustDuckie - [ 3 ] -

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A Bookstore With No Cashier, No Staff, That Allows You To Pay Any Amount You Want (http://www.malaysiandiges... http://328744392.r.worldc... )

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"Wouldn’t it be a dream to step into a bookstore with no staff looking over your shoulder while you’re reading, or better still, no cashiers at all − meaning you can leave with the books that you want for free! Yes, you better be believe what you’re reading as in Nanjing, China, it has in fact debuted a concept bookstore called “Honesty Bookshop”, allowing readers to ‘pay any amount you want for any book you want’. There is a lockbox placed to let customers pay for the books on their own free will, and it is basically based on trust. Taking up merely a small space in the busy city square, the book store has four bookshelves aligned and only stocks around 1,500 titles." - JustDuckie - -

"Most customers did actually pay the correct amount for the books they took as the organisers claim that the money raised was enough to cover costs." - JustDuckie - -

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East Texas Man Shot After Bullet Ricochets Off Armadillo | Blogs | San Antonio Current (http://www.sacurrent.com/... http://media2.fdncms.com/... )

1 decade ago from Bookmarklet - Comment - Hide - - [ 5 ] -

"The man involved told deputies he was shooting at an armadillo and the bullet ricocheted and hit him in the head,” according to KRTE." - JustDuckie - -

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Ah, the "he had it comin" defense. - Jennifer D. - [ 1 ] -

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Man calls police to arrest his cat for eating his bacon - AOL.com (http://www.aol.com/articl... )

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"West Yorkshire Police released the hilarious clip of the phone call between the theft victim and the police. When the man called, he told the police: "me girlfriend has let the cat eat my bacon. I want to press charges." The dispatcher kept her cool when she asked if the man wanted to press charges against his wife or against his cat. When the man replied that he wanted them both arrested, the dispatcher said: "Sir, it's not an offense to let your cat eat your bacon. And we don't arrest cats."" - JustDuckie - -

A cat burglar. - John B. - [ 4 ] -

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Bolshoi Is Not Renewing Acid Attack Victim’s Contract - The New York Times (http://www.nytimes.com/20... http://static01.nyt.com/i... )

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"The Bolshoi Theater will not be extending the contract of Sergei Filin, the ballet’s artistic director who was injured in an acid attack organized by a dancer in January 2013. According to a statement posted on the Bolshoi’s website on Thursday, the theater’s general director, Vladimir Urin, told Mr. Filin that his contract would not be extended once it expires in March. Until then, Mr. Filin will continue “to be responsible for new productions, questions regarding the operation of the theater’s ballet troupe and its tours.” Mr. Filin lost of most of his sight in the acid attack, which made headlines all over the world, and caused turmoil at the Bolshoi. He later underwent treatment, mostly in Germany, to restore a measure of vision, and has continued to rehearse and oversee the company." - JustDuckie - -

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"Mr. Filin’s approach to repertory has previously come under attack from more conservative quarters at the Bolshoi. The theater’s choice of a new director for the ballet will show whether there is adherence to the more outward-looking direction that Mr. Filin has pursued, or whether there is a return to a purist approach focused on the 19th-century repertory and big-story ballets for which the Bolshoi is known." - JustDuckie - -

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Doctors warn against coloring book fad - Taipei Times (http://www.taipeitimes.co... )

1 decade ago from Bookmarklet - Comment - Hide - - [ 2 ] -

"Coloring books for adults have seemingly become a new fad for the nation’s white-collar workers to destress, but doctors warn that overuse of the books might cause physical problems and suggest limiting their use. The coloring books focus on geometrical and floral patterns, as well as figures for coloring, with increasing claims that the process provides emotional release and calming of the mind, achieving the effects of art therapy. Hsinchu Cathay General Hospital department of ophthalmology director Chen Ying-shan (陳瑩山) said that the department recently saw a patient who has used the method 20 minutes at a time three times a day for two weeks before coming to the hospital complaining of sore and puffy eyes with accompanying sensations of pain and numbness. The patient has greater than minus-8 diopters in both eyes and has developed minor symptoms of presbyopia, the department said." - JustDuckie - -

"“The coloring books require users to focus on detail and necessitate close scrutiny,” Chen said. “Long-term close scrutiny can cause the eye muscles to become overly taut and might cause vision issues and discomfort,” Chen said, adding, however, that after using ciliary muscle relaxant for a month the patient has fully recovered. Chen suggests a 33cm distance from coloring books and a time limit of 20 minutes per day with at least a 30-minute break after coloring, or coloring before going to sleep, as the calming effect might aid sleep quality." - JustDuckie - -

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Genome-wide Evidence Reveals that African and Eurasian Golden Jackals Are Distinct Species: Current Biology (http://www.cell.com/curre... (15)00787-3 http://www.cell.com/cms/a... )

1 decade ago from Bookmarklet - Comment - Hide - - [ 2 ] -

"The golden jackal of Africa (Canis aureus) has long been considered a conspecific of jackals distributed throughout Eurasia, with the nearest source populations in the Middle East. However, two recent reports found that mitochondrial haplotypes of some African golden jackals aligned more closely to gray wolves (Canis lupus) [ 1, 2 ], which is surprising given the absence of gray wolves in Africa and the phenotypic divergence between the two species. Moreover, these results imply the existence of a previously unrecognized phylogenetically distinct species despite a long history of taxonomic work on African canids." - JustDuckie - -

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Beijing Defeats Almaty in Bid to Host 2022 Winter Olympics - The New York Times (http://www.nytimes.com/20... http://static01.nyt.com/i... )

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"Beijing was awarded the hosting rights to the 2022 Winter Olympics on Friday, setting up the Chinese capital to become the first city in history to stage both the Summer and Winter Games. Members of the International Olympic Committee, which is holding its annual congress in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, voted in favor of Beijing over its lone competitor, Almaty, Kazakhstan. The outcome was 44 to 40, a margin that was far smaller than many observers had predicted given the success of the 2008 Summer Games in Beijing and the relative anonymity of Almaty in the sporting community. Voting was conducted with traditional paper ballots after electronic devices failed. “This will be a memorable event at the foot of the Great Wall for the whole Olympic family,” organizers for Beijing’s bid said in a statement afterward." - JustDuckie - -

I can see this becoming a huge challenge for President Xi's anti-corruption campaign. I really hope they pull this off. - JustDuckie - -

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Popular Authors Are Using Twitter to Share #TenThingsNotToSayToAWriter | TIME (http://time.com/3975448/t... )

1 decade ago from Bookmarklet - Comment - Hide - - [ 3 ] -

"Best-selling novelists, journalists and amateur writers alike gathered on Twitter today to turn a hashtag into a nationwide trending topic. The hashtag in question? #TenThingsNotToSayToAWriter. Writers have been chiming in to vent the everyday frustrations of the profession (or, for some people, the side job.) The most common grievance seems to be the fact that some people refuse to regard writing as actual work. They assume it’s an easy task that anyone could do if they just had time. If you want to avoid making a writer angry, check out some of the best tweets:" - JustDuckie - -

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Hinton had some good ones. I even RTd a few. - faboomama - [ 1 ] -

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The Dead Girl's Room | The Offing (http://theoffingmag.com/e... http://theoffingmag.com/w... )

1 decade ago from Bookmarklet - Comment - Hide - - [ 1 ] -

"I sobbed as I read, for the first time grieving someone I’d never known, but also grieving for myself because I was alive, and convinced I could never be as good." - JustDuckie - -

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Chincoteague Ponies Make 90th Annual Swim - Horse Collaborative (http://www.horsecollabora... http://www.horsecollabora... )

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"Today, the herd population is managed year-round by the Chincoteague Volunteer Fire Company. Every July, a group of volunteers called the Saltwater Cowboys rounds up the ponies and swims them across the channel from Assateague to Chincoteague during slack tide, where the ponies are auctioned off. Fun fact: the first foal to make landfall is named King or Queen Neptune, and is raffled off during the auction." - JustDuckie - -

MOAR PONIES!!! - JustDuckie - -

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Summer of Science - The Chincoteague Feral Ponies' Annual 4-Minute Swim - NYTimes.com (http://www.nytimes.com/in... http://i2.nyt.com/images/... )

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"For almost a century, the Saltwater Cowboys of the Chincoteague Volunteer Fire Department have been wrangling up wild ponies and sending them on a 4-minute swim across the Chincoteague Channel, just off the coast of Virginia. The last Wednesday and Thursday of July are the days that the ponies are scheduled to paddle 75 yards to the other side of the water before parading through town be auctioned off. Some locals call the ponies wild, but they are actually feral, meaning at one point they escaped domestication. The most popular origin story is that the Chincoteague ponies survived a 17th Century Spanish shipwreck. With little evidence to support that popular tale, however, a more plausible one is that settlers kept ponies on the island to avoid a 1669 horse tax." - JustDuckie - -

PONIES!!! :D :D - JustDuckie - -

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Brown Ballerina Spotlight: Q & A Olivia Boisson (http://browngirlsdoballet... http://browngirlsdoballet... http://browngirlsdoballet... )

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1 decade ago from Bookmarklet - Comment - Hide - - [ 3 ] -

"Born in Queens, New York to Haitian immigrants, Olivia Boisson is no stranger to overcoming obstacles. In 2012 as an apprentice, Olivia Boisson was the first African-American woman to join New York City Ballet in over a decade. She is currently a member of New York City Ballet’s corps de ballet and we had the absolute honor to interview her despite her very busy schedule." - JustDuckie - -

"BGDB:Our project focuses on highlighting unrepresented minorities in Ballet. Why do you think minorities are not well involved in this performing art? What are some of challenges you may have faced as a “brown ballerina” or a dancer in general? OB:I think the reason minorities are not well represented in this performing art is because the there is not much exposure in minority communities. Another issue is that the younger generation does not have enough brown ballet dancers for role models. A challenge I have faced as a “brown ballerina” is feeling that there were a lot of leading roles in ballets that I would love to do, but didn’t see myself performing, but seeing Misty Copeland perform Swan Lake makes me feel that now it is possible for me." - JustDuckie - -

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American Car and Driver, French License | The Weeklings (http://www.theweeklings.c... )

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"We all think this. We’re convinced we’ve mastered something we’re only partially done with. What we counted on as good enough or solid experience under our belt, sooner or later, reveals itself to be a convenient illusion. Life gives us more tests to point out where we’re wrong. Those things that we never predicted to be a struggle turn out to reduce us to a hot pile of humiliated tears. The test proctors and the institutions win. Particularly in this place where I’m come to learn that the institutions and the bureaucracy seep into every aspect of a citoyen’s life. Do I need to relearn everything? Yes. Also I’ve filled the form out incorrectly." - JustDuckie - -

"The driving school suggested several practice driving lessons with an instructor, a humorless woman with her foot hovering centimeters over the passenger seat brake. I endured the lessons. I received red checks on my file for not looking good and hard at the blind spot on the lane changes. And for cutting too tight on left turns. And for rolling ever so slightly through a stop. After the third session, she did congratulate me on a jolie highway merge. I was almost proud." - JustDuckie - -

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Party-animal badger found drunk on Polish beach - Yahoo News (http://news.yahoo.com/par... http://l1.yimg.com/bt/api... )

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"A female badger was recovering at a Polish animal shelter Wednesday, two days after the party animal was found passed out on a beach from having too much to drink. "Oh, youth. Oh, summer holidays," animal shelter Dzika Ostoja joked Wednesday in a Facebook post detailing Wandzia the badger's plight in the Baltic seaside resort town of Rewal. "We found Wandzia drunk, surrounded by seven (empty beer) bottles. There were two more in the bushes, so it's possible Wandzia began partying there. Haha." The badger is believed to have stolen the booze from fellow beachgoers, before removing the beer caps with her teeth." - JustDuckie - -

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Ohio man must spend two days in jail for petting zoo cougars - Yahoo News (http://news.yahoo.com/ohi... )

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"An Ohio man who posted a video of himself petting cougars at a Columbus zoo appealed no contest to a trespassing charge on Wednesday and has to spend two days in jail and pay more than $200 in fines, court documents said. Joshua Newell, 35, jumped an outer fence to gain access to another fenced-in enclosure and called the cougars to him in order to pet them, the documents said. Newell then posted a nearly two-minute video of the encounter on YouTube where he enticed the animals by calling "Here, kitty, kitty" and "That's a good kitty."" - JustDuckie - -

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That Dystopic Version of Little Women No One Asked For Is Coming to TV (http://io9.com/that-dysto... http://i.kinja-img.com/ga... )

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"I swear this next sentence is true and not the result of a Mad Lib: The CW is developing a “hyper-stylized, gritty adaptation” of Little Women with Michael Weatherly (NCIS) executive producing. Whatever you’re about to say, I KNOW." - JustDuckie - -

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That sounds like bad fanfic. - bentley - [ 2 ] -

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Skirting Comedy Limits in Myanmar - The New York Times (http://www.nytimes.com/20... http://static01.nyt.com/i... )

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"Emerging from behind a tawdry blue curtain in the garage of his three-story home here in Myanmar’s second largest city, U Lu Maw made his way onto a makeshift stage to do what he does best: tell jokes. ‘‘I don’t trust the government,’’ Mr. Lu Maw, 66, bellowed into the microphone in English one evening last month to an audience of foreigners. ‘‘The cronies — they like to take things for free, like Jesse James. It’s the five-finger discount.’’ Though his attire is modest — a traditional wraparound skirt known as a longyi under a red T-shirt emblazoned with “The Moustache Brothers,” the name of his comedy troupe — Mr. Lu Maw delivers jokes that are a dark and bold reminder of what life was like under decades of oppressive military rule in Myanmar, formerly known as Burma." - JustDuckie - -

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"‘‘Before shows, I am very sad in my heart,’’ Mr. Lu Zaw said before the June performance. ‘‘When I start to perform though, I have to change my face. Now, I talk about my brother’s story and I have to put on a smile. I have to be strong.’’ Most other comedy troupes in Myanmar have long since disbanded as performers struggle to make a living. Today, fewer than five remain, Mr. Lu Maw said. ‘‘The tourists demand us, so we cannot stop,’’ he said. ‘‘My life depends on them and that’s why I cannot leave them.’’ Mr. Lu Zaw and Mr. Lu Maw consider their work a calling and plan to continue it for the rest of their lives, or at least as long as they can keep performing. ‘‘I think I have 10 or 15 years more in me,’’ Mr. Lu Maw said, his arm wrapped around his cousin. He added, joking, ‘‘For him, I don’t know, maybe only five.’’" - JustDuckie - -

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Secret Catholics at Jamestown - The Atlantic (http://www.theatlantic.co... http://cdn.theatlantic.co... )

1 decade ago from Bookmarklet - Comment - Hide - - [ 5 ] -

"After 400 years in the Virginia dirt, the box came out of the ground looking like it had been plucked from the ocean. A tiny silver brick, now encrusted with a green patina and rough as sandpaper. Buried beneath it was a human skeleton. The remains would later be identified as those of Captain Gabriel Archer, one of the most prominent leaders at Jamestown, the first permanent English colony in America. But it was the box, which appeared to be an ancient Catholic reliquary, that had archaeologists bewildered and astonished. “One of the major surprises was the discovery of this mysterious small silver box,” said James Horn, the president of the Jamestown Rediscovery Foundation. “I have to say, we’re still trying to figure this out. You have the very strange situation of a Catholic reliquary being found with the leader of the first Protestant church in the country.”" - JustDuckie - -

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Thanks John! - JustDuckie - -

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How to Tell a Joke - The New York Times (http://www.nytimes.com/20... http://static01.nyt.com/i... )

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""People should not be able to telegraph where a joke’s going,’’ says Hari Kondabolu, a stand-up comic from Queens. The only way to guarantee surprise is to create original material. Street jokes — the kind you read in a book or hear at summer camp and tell with the preface ‘‘Want to hear a joke?’’ — are almost never funny, Kondabolu says. They also often involve animals, inexplicably. (If you must go that route, ducks make for the funniest animal jokes, according to a global survey done by scientists at the University of Hertfordshire.) His routines playfully take on more serious topics like race and gender." - JustDuckie - -

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Yeah, it's surprisingly easy to accidentally write a joke where the punchline comes in the middle or the start, robbing it of optimal effect. But it's also delivery -- I remember one 30 Rock line where the Tracy Jordan character's deliberate, enunciated manner of speaking slowed down the delivery so much that even though the punchline came at the end, it was telegraphed and made obvious before he got to it. I think the same line delivered faster might have worked better. - Andrew C - [ 2 ] -

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