I've read a few of her books............

"Talkies" (technically known as a sound film, it is a motion picture with synchronized sound, or sound technologically coupled to image, as opposed to a silent film. The first known public exhibition of projected sound films took place in Paris in 1900, but decades passed before sound motion pictures became commercially practical. Reliable synchronization was difficult to achieve with the early sound-on-disc systems, and amplification and recording quality were also inadequate. Innovations in sound-on-film led to the first commercial screening of short motion pictures using the technology, which took place in 1923. The primary steps in the commercialization of sound cinema were taken in the mid-to-late 1920s. At first, the sound films which included synchronized dialogue, known as "talking pictures", or "talkies", were exclusively shorts. The earliest feature-length movies with recorded sound included only music and effects. The first feature film originally presented as a talkie (although it had only limited sound sequences) was The Jazz Singer, which premiered on October 6, 1927. A major hit, it was made with Vitaphone, which was at the time the leading brand of sound-on-disc technology. Sound-on-film, however, would soon become the standard for talking pictures. By the early 1930s, the talkies were a global phenomenon. In the United States, they helped secure Hollywood's position as one of the world's most powerful cultural/commercial centers of influence (see Cinema of the United States). In Europe (and, to a lesser degree, elsewhere), the new development was treated with suspicion by many filmmakers and critics, who worried that a focus on dialogue would subvert the unique aesthetic virtues of silent cinema. In Japan, where the popular film tradition integrated silent movie and live vocal performance (benshi), talking pictures were slow to take root. Conversely, in India, sound was the transformative element that led to the rapid expansion of the nation's film industry)

FYI: There was a downside to the advent of "talkie". While the introduction of sound led to a boom in the motion picture industry, it had an adverse effect on the employability of a host of Hollywood actors of the time. Suddenly those without stage experience were regarded as suspect by the studios; as suggested above, those whose heavy accents or otherwise discordant voices had previously been concealed were particularly at risk. The career of major silent star Norma Talmadge effectively came to an end in this way. The celebrated German actor Emil Jannings returned to Europe. Moviegoers found John Gilbert's voice an awkward match with his swashbuckling persona, and his star also faded. Audiences now seemed to perceive certain silent-era stars as old-fashioned, even those who had the talent to succeed in the sound era. The career of Harold Lloyd, one of the top screen comedians of the 1920s, declined precipitously. Lillian Gish departed, back to the stage, and other leading figures soon left acting entirely: Colleen Moore, Gloria Swanson, and Hollywood's most famous performing couple, Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford. After his acting career collapsed due to his Danish accent, Karl Dane committed suicide. However, the impact of sound on the careers of film actors should not be exaggerated. One statistical analysis of silent actress career length showed that the five-year ‘survival-rate’ of actresses active in 1922 was only 10% greater than those active after 1927.

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FYI: From my At the Movie topic folder

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Off to work..............

UNOS - The United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) is a non-profit, scientific and educational organization that administers the only Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN) in the United States, established (42 U.S.C. § 274) by the U.S. Congress in 1984 by Gene A. Pierce, founder of United Network for Organ Sharing. Located in Richmond, Virginia, the organization's headquarters are situated near the intersection of Interstate 95 and Interstate 64 in the Virginia BioTechnology Research Park.

Comment: As you're driving down the interstate, the building is obvious because of the large UNOS with the bright blue background. I honestly didn't know what it was until I moved there.

United Network for Organ Sharing is involved in many aspects of the organ transplant and donation process:

• Managing the national transplant waiting list, matching donors to recipients.
• Maintaining the database that contains all organ transplant data for every transplant event that occurs in the U.S.
• Bringing together members to develop policies that make the best use of the limited supply of organs and give all patients a fair chance at receiving the organ they need, regardless of age, sex, ethnicity, religion, lifestyle, or financial/social status.
• Monitoring every organ match to ensure organ allocation policies are followed.
• Providing assistance to patients, family members and friends.
• Educating transplant professionals about their important role in the donation and transplant processes.
• Educating the public about the importance of organ donation.

United Network for Organ Sharing uses a set policy to remove as much subjectivity as possible from the process of matching organs with recipients (referred to as a "match run"). There are several factors that are involved, including, but not limited to:

• Age
• Ability of the patient to recover
• ABO (though very young recipients are often considered for ABO-incompatible listing)
• Distance
• Height and weight
• Life support status
• Listing status
• Time on the waiting list

The individual criteria varies from one organ type to another. For example, with heart and lung transplantation, candidate recipients are given one of four status levels (1A - the highest level, 1B, 2, and 7). A matching born (i.e. not in utero) candidate of Status 1A within the donor region, of matching ABO type, and within 500 miles will be given the highest priority, with multiple matches being ranked by time on the waiting list. Each of those criteria will be progressively relaxed until a match is found. Some good-quality donated organs are wasted despite about 20 people per day dying while on waiting lists. Critics say this is because once a given set of organs are turned down once or twice, other potential recipients begin to worry that there might be something wrong with them, and eventually the organs are destroyed after thousands of refusals. Excessive conservatism may be the result of evaluating transplant surgeons based on success rate, giving them an incentive only to attempt procedures with the highest probability of success, rather than maximizing the number of lives saved. New rules announced by the Department of Health and Human Services in 2020 aimed to better balance waiting lists in different regions caused by demographic differences in the causes of death.

The regions of United Network for Organ Sharing

1. Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Eastern Vermont
2. Delaware, District of Columbia, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and the part of Northern Virginia in the Donation Service Area served by the Washington Regional Transplant Community (DCTC) Organ procurement organization
3. Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Puerto Rico
4. Oklahoma and Texas
5. Arizona, California, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah
6. Alaska, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and Washington
7. Illinois, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wisconsin
8. Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, and Wyoming
9. New York and Western Vermont
10. Indiana, Michigan, and Ohio
11. Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and most of Virginia

Veerabhadra Temple (is a Hindu temple located in the Lepakshi, in the state of Andhra Pradesh, India. The temple is dedicated to the Virabhadra, a fierce incarnation of Lord Shiva. Built in the 16th century, the architectural features of the temple are in the Vijayanagara style with profusion of carvings and paintings at almost every exposed surface of the temple. It is one of the centrally protected monuments of national importance and is considered one of the most spectacular Vijayanagara temples. The fresco paintings are particularly detailed in very bright dresses and colours with scenes of Rama and Krishna from the epic stories of the Ramayana, the Mahabharata and the Puranas and they are well preserved. There is a very large Nandi (bull), mount of Shiva, about 200 metres (660 ft) away from the temple which is carved from a single block of stone, which is said to be one of the largest of its type in the world. The temple is home to many Kannada inscriptions as its located close to Karnataka border)

The famous Hanging Pillar of Lepakshi Temple, a massive block of granite that doesn’t appear to touch the floor. This hanging or “floating” pillar is said to be a miracle, and those who can get a thin object to pass underneath it will be bestowed with good luck. Visitors can often be seen passing scarves underneath the hanging pillar....................

Calling it a night.....................

Winchester Cathedral - The Cathedral Church of the Holy Trinity, Saint Peter, Saint Paul and Saint Swithun, commonly known as Winchester Cathedral, is the cathedral of the city of Winchester, England, and is among the largest of its kind in Northern Europe. The cathedral is the seat of the Bishop of Winchester and is the mother church for the ancient Diocese of Winchester. It is run by a dean and chapter, under the Dean of Winchester. The cathedral as it stands today was built from 1079 to 1532 and is dedicated to numerous saints, most notably Swithun of Winchester. It has a very long and very wide nave in the Perpendicular Gothic style, an Early English retrochoir, and Norman transepts and tower. With an overall length of 558 feet (170 m), it is the longest medieval cathedral in the world, and only surpassed by the more recent churches of St Peter's Basilica in Rome, Basilica of Our Lady of Peace in Yamoussoukro, Liverpool Anglican Cathedral, Cathedral of St John the Divine in New York City and the Basilica of Our Lady in Aparecida. With an area of 53,480 square feet (4,968 m2), it is also the sixth-largest cathedral by area in the UK, surpassed only by Liverpool, St Paul's, York, Westminster (RC) and Lincoln. A major tourist attraction, the cathedral attracted 365,000 visitors in 2019, an increase of 12,000 from 2018.

Winchester Cathedral is possibly the only cathedral to have had popular songs written about it. "Winchester Cathedral" was a UK top ten hit and a US number one song for The New Vaudeville Band in 1966. The cathedral was also the subject of the Crosby, Stills & Nash song "Cathedral" from their 1977 album CSN. Liverpool-based band Clinic released an album titled Winchester Cathedral in 2004.

YouTube

The New Vaudeville Band "Winchester Cathedral" on The Ed Sullivan Show

The New Vaudeville Band "Winchester Cathedral" on The Ed Sullivan Show, November 13, 1966. Subscribe now to never miss an update: https://ume.lnk.to/EdSulliv...

Actually, the song is what made me think of this.

XFL (is a professional American football minor league consisting of eight teams located across the United States in mid-sized to major markets. Seasons run from February to May, with each team playing a ten-game regular season, and four progressing to the playoffs to crown a season champion. The league is headquartered in Arlington, Texas. The league was founded by WWE executive Vince McMahon in 2018, as a successor to the league of the same name he founded in 2001. McMahon founded the new XFL to create a league with fewer off-field controversies and faster, simpler play compared to the bigger National Football League (NFL), and one without the features inspired by professional wrestling or entertainment elements of its predecessor. The league and its teams were originally owned by McMahon's Alpha Entertainment. After only five weeks of play in its inaugural 2020 season, the league abruptly ceased play due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and filed for bankruptcy on April 13. In August 2020, actor Dwayne Johnson, along with longtime business partner and ex-wife Dany Garcia, led a consortium to purchase the XFL for $15 million. The league returned to play on February 18, 2023. The XFL operates in the winter and early spring months, after the end of the NFL season and before the start of the United States Football League (USFL) season. The league has a player personnel partnership with the Indoor Football League (IFL), with the IFL functioning as the XFL's de facto minor league)

Dwayne Johnson, who previously worked for McMahon as WWE wrestler The Rock, played collegiate football with the Miami Hurricanes in the 1990s and as a professional with the Calgary Stampeders of the Canadian Football League.....

Calling it a night............................

Yahtzee - is a dice game made by Milton Bradley (a company that has since been acquired and assimilated by Hasbro). It was first marketed under the name of Yahtzee by game entrepreneur Edwin S. Lowe in 1956. The game is a development of earlier dice games such as Poker Dice, Yacht and Generala. It is also similar to Yatzy, which is popular in Scandinavia. The objective of the game is to score points by rolling five dice to make certain combinations. The dice can be rolled up to three times in a turn to try to make various scoring combinations and dice must remain in the box. A game consists of thirteen rounds. After each round, the player chooses which scoring category is to be used for that round. Once a category has been used in the game, it cannot be used again. The scoring categories have varying point values, some of which are fixed values and others for which the score depends on the value of the dice. A Yahtzee is five-of-a-kind and scores 50 points, the highest of any category. The winner is the player who scores the most points. Yahtzee was marketed by the E.S. Lowe Company from 1956 until 1973. In 1973, the Milton Bradley Company purchased the E.S. Lowe Company and assumed the rights to produce and sell Yahtzee. During Lowe's ownership, over 40 million Yahtzee games were sold worldwide. According to the current owner, Hasbro, 50 million Yahtzee games are sold each year. 

Comment: This was a favorite game of my grandkids when they were younger. We used to play this a lot and it was a good way for them to learn addition.

The Original 1956 Yahtzee Board Game

Ziggarut Pyramid is a pyramid-shaped arcology that was conceived for Dubai in 2008. It was estimated to start construction in 2021 and complete it by 2028. The structure was designed to house nearly one million people and would be self-sustainable with all-natural energy sources. Like the pyramids of the Mayans and Egyptians, this structure in Dubai would be a giant; it would cover 2.3 square kilometers (0.88 square miles) and would be able to sustain a community of up to one million people. The “Ziggurat” is named after the temple towers of the ancient Mesopotamian valley, a terraced pyramid structure with successively receding stories. It would be a carbon-neutral structure. According to the International Institute for the Urban Environment, the technologies incorporated into the Ziggurat project would make it a viable metropolis. Timelinks has already patented the design and technology used in this project. The building would be green, powered by solar, wind and natural sources and capable of running completely off the grid, according to Timelinks, a Dubai-based pioneering environmental design company who is in charge of the building. The building would also boast an efficient public transportation system, which would run horizontally and vertically. “Ziggurat communities can be almost totally self-sufficient energy-wise. Apart from using steam power in the building we will also employ wind turbine technology to harness natural energy resources. Whole cities can be accommodated in complexes which take up less than 10% of the original land surface. Public and private landscaping will be used for leisure pursuits or irrigated as agricultural land”, said Timelinks, MD, Ridas Matonis. A horizontal and vertical integrated 360 degree network would be the mode of transportation in this city of the future, making cars redundant. Facial recognition technology for security purposes is another interesting feature that would be incorporated into the Ziggurat Project. After the initial proposal in 2008 there was no further information)

FYI: From my Architecture topic folder.......................

Anchors Aweigh (song) - is the fight song of the United States Naval Academy and unofficial march song of the United States Navy. It was composed in 1906 by Charles A. Zimmermann with lyrics by Alfred Hart Miles. When he composed "Anchors Aweigh", Zimmermann was a lieutenant and had been bandmaster of the United States Naval Academy Band since 1887. Miles was midshipman first class at the academy, in the class of 1907, and had asked Zimmermann to assist him in composing a song for that class, to be used as a football march. Another academy midshipman, Royal Lovell (class of 1926), later wrote what would be adopted into the song as its third verse.

"Weigh anchor" is an old Dutch sailors' expression; it amounts to an order that a ship's anchors be raised. (For a time, Dutch and Flemish phrases dominated sailors' expressions all over the world.) To "weigh anchor" is to bring all anchor(s) aboard the vessel in preparation for departure. In response to the order, the phrase "anchors aweigh" reports back that all anchors are clear of the sea bottom; therefore, the ship is officially under way. "Anchors aweigh" is often misspelled as "Anchor's away", leading to confusing the terms, and sometimes misunderstanding the order as meaning "to drop anchor". Confusion may also occur over two correct spellings typically encountered: that is, "anchor's" with an apostrophe, and without ("anchors"). Here the phrase "anchor's aweigh", (denoting a single anchor plus the contraction of the verb "is") means: this anchor is raised. The single phrase must be distinguished from the plural "anchors aweigh", which reports that all anchors of the ship are raised.

YouTube

Anchors Aweigh (Official Navy Song)

SoldierCity.com presents "Anchors Aweigh," the official song of the United States Navy. Performed by the U.S. Navy Band, this piece was originally written by...

There was also a film titled Anchors Aweigh. The 1945 American musical comedy film directed by George Sidney, starred Frank Sinatra, Kathryn Grayson, and Gene Kelly, with songs by Jule Styne and Sammy Cahn. 

Round 6............................

The Broken Christ (is one of the five largest sculptures in Mexico. It is built in the heart of the Presidente Calles Dam, in the municipality of San José de Gracia, Aguascalientes, in Mexico. It measures 25 meters and is mounted on a base of 3 meters of ready-mix concrete and reinforced steel giving a total of 28 meters in height. The image is inspired by the exodus in the face of the catastrophe to which the population was subjected, as well as being a reminder of the sick and oppressed. Access is only by water: visitors board a boat with all the security measures until they reach the island; Then you have to climb a staircase, in order to reach the sanctuary. On the island where it is located is the Sanctuary of the Broken Christ, where you can see the different types of scale Christs that are housed in the churches of the state, each with its description and miracles that have granted)

FYI: From my Around the World topic folder. Originally had it for "E" for the Spanish name of El Cristo Roto, but then I wasn't sure it should go there because El means The

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Off to work.....................

Copper - is a chemical element with the symbol Cu (from Latin: cuprum) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkish-orange color. Copper is used as a conductor of heat and electricity, as a building material, and as a constituent of various metal alloys, such as sterling silver used in jewelry, cupronickel used to make marine hardware and coins, and constantan used in strain gauges and thermocouples for temperature measurement.

Copper can also be a reddish-brown color like that of copper.

Copper can be a coin made from copper, especially a penny.

Copper can be a larger boiler used for cooking (chiefly British)

Copper can be a police officer.