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☆ Why the drag looks in ‘The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert’ are still iconic, 30 years on
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-15 | by ( Caitlin Chatterton | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

This is the opening scene from “The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert”, which first screened at Cannes Film Festival 30 years ago this month. In the film, Tick (Hugo Weaving) and Bernadette (Terence Stamp) help Adam (Guy Pearce) realize his dream of climbing King Canyon in full drag. “I think that’s definitely one of the most iconic looks,” drag artist and costumer Philmah Bocks told CNN. Bocks has been designing costumes for 30 years, having broken into the drag scene around the same time “Priscilla” was hitting screens. The film’s legacy can also be seen in Australia’s drag scene today and, since 2021, has been broadcast to new audiences via contestants on “Rupaul’s Drag Race Down Under”.

Persons: CNN —, Belrose, Hugo Weaving, Mitzi Del, Priscilla , Queen, “, Tim Chappel, I’d, Elliott, Bernadette Bassenger, Terence Stamp, Adam Whitley, Felicia Jollygoodfellow, Guy Pearce, Priscilla, Queen, Bernadette, Adam, Chappel, ” Chappel, Susan Barber, Priscilla ”, Lizzy Gardiner, Oscar, Mitzi Del Bra, ”, Gloria Gaynor’s “, costumer Philmah Bocks, Bocks, Tim Chappel's, Priscilla ’, they’ve, couldn’t, I’ve, “ Priscilla ”, she’s, London’s, Katy Perry, they’re, Katy Perry’s, ” Bocks, Felicia Jollygoodfellow's, ” Stephan Elliott Organizations: CNN, Cannes Film, Miss Teen USA, Sydney, Cannes, Chappel, First Nations, Royce Locations: CNN — Sydney, Silicon, Sydney, Australia, Tasmania

☆ Opinion | We’re Not Asking the Most Important Questions About Age
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-06 | by ( James Chappel | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

After President Biden delivers his third State of the Union address on Thursday, much of the analysis will focus on the apparent signs of the president’s age. Questions like these certainly matter, but they are not the only ones we should be asking about age and aging right now. In a way, the persistent debate about Mr. Biden’s age represents a mass delusion that we are still a nation of the young. Such a nation, we might think, ought to be led by someone young, or at least young at heart. The age of the American president has gone up and down over time, but the age of the American public has not: We get older as a nation every year.

Persons: Biden, spry, plucky strivers, it’s Locations: America, plucky

☆ Australian Authorities Say More Sydney Schools Tainted With Asbestos
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-17 | by ( Feb. | At P.M. | ) www.usnews.com time to read: +1 min

SYDNEY (Reuters) - An asbestos contamination in Sydney widened on Sunday, with authorities saying the toxic material had been detected in more schools, as a weeks-long effort continued to remove it from mulch used in public places. In an update on the contamination on Sunday, the state's Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) said 34 city sites had now returned positive for bonded asbestos. New sites where asbestos had been confirmed were two schools in the city's west, the EPA said, lifting the number of schools confirmed as tainted to four. "There is ongoing testing at a further four schools," EPA head Tony Chappel said, adding that testing was also underway at a hospital and in part of the city's vast Royal National Park. (Reporting by Sam McKeith in Sydney; Editing by Christian Schmollinger)

Persons: Tony Chappel, Sam McKeith, Christian Schmollinger Organizations: SYDNEY, Environmental Protection Authority, Royal, Asbestos Locations: Sydney, New South Wales

☆ A hot dog diner in Oklahoma saw sales surge after a customer uploaded a photo of the owner looking sadly outside a window
▼ + stars: | 2023-12-29 | by ( Matthew Loh | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The owner of a hot dog diner in Oklahoma enjoyed a sales boom after a sad photo of him went viral. Scott Hosek told local media that business was lagging amid the Christmas period. The diner has been busy after a customer posted a photo of him looking mournfully out his window. Hosek told USA Today that business had increased significantly since Chappel's December 20 post, reversing from a pre-Christmas customer dip. The restaurant saw an entire week's worth of sales in one day, Hosek told ABC affiliate KOCO.

Persons: Scott Hosek, —, Nick Chappell, Chappell, Hosek, Chappel, it's, Moore, you'll Organizations: Service, Facebook, USA Today, ABC, Business, Oklahoma City Locations: Oklahoma, Norman , Oklahoma

☆ These books are being used to train AI. No one told the authors
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-08 | by ( Leah Asmelash | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

CNN —Almost 200,000 books are being used to train artificial intelligence systems by some of the biggest companies in technology. Books3 is already the subject of multiple lawsuits against Meta and other companies using the system to train AI. Now, thanks to a database published by The Atlantic last week pulling from Books3, authors can see whether their books specifically are being used to train these AI systems. They stole a part of me.”Nora Roberts, the prolific romance novelist, has 206 books used in the Books3 database, according to The Atlantic. With the popularity of text-to-image AI systems, visual artists were in same situation last year, discovering their work was being used to train AI without permission.

Persons: Books3, “, ”, Mary H, Choi, “ I’m, I’m, ” Choi, ” Min Jin Lee, Pachinko, ” “, Al, ” Nora Roberts, William Shakespeare, ” Roberts, Nik Sharma, I’d, Sharma, ” Sharma, James Chappel, ” Chappel, ChatGPT, aren’t, Joe Biden, Choi isn’t, Roberts Organizations: CNN, The Atlantic, Meta, New York Times, Food, Millionaires, West, Bloomberg, Guild of America, WGA Locations: Korean

☆ Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2023: Stunning shot of giant plasma arc scoops top prize
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-15 | by ( Amarachi Orie | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

CNN —A photograph of a huge plasma arc next to the Andromeda Galaxy, the closest large spiral galaxy to the Milky Way, has won the 2023 Astronomy Photographer of the Year competition for a team of amateur astronomers. A team of amateur astronomers, led by Marcel Drechsler from Germany and Xavier Strottner from France, discovered a previously unknown galactic nebula. Marcel DrechslerScientists are now investigating the large object, which is in the immediate vicinity of the Andromeda Galaxy, in a transnational collaboration, according to the observatory. The nebula is located in the Centaurus constellation, about 6,000 lights year away from Earth, according to the release. Two 14-year-old boys from China won Young Astronomy Photographer of the Year for their image of The Running Chicken Nebula.

Persons: Marcel Drechsler, Xavier Strottner, Yann Sainty, ”, astrophotographer, —, Runwei Xu, Binyu Wang, Yuri Beletsky, Monika Deviat, Ethan Chappel, Eduardo Schaberger Poupeau, John White, Chandra, Katherine Gazzard Organizations: CNN, Andromeda, Observatory Greenwich, Young, China, Young Astronomy, Sun, Perseus, Art, Royal Museums Greenwich, Maritime Museum Locations: Germany, France, China

William Null, twin brother Michael Null and Eric Molitor are the last of 14 men to face charges in state or federal court. They were not among the main group of six people charged with a kidnapping conspiracy in federal court. Molitor, 39, and William Null, 41, acknowledged the road trips but told jurors they didn't really understand the purpose. William Null said he was regularly exposed to “crazy talk" by pot-puffing plot leaders Adam Fox and Barry Croft Jr. and didn't think it was too serious until conversations turned to explosives. But during tense cross-examination, prosecutor William Rollstin reminded him of his anti-government views on social media and disgust for Whitmer, especially her COVID-19 restrictions.

Persons: Michigan's, William Null, Michael Null, Eric Molitor, they're, Adam Fox, Barry Croft Jr, William Rollstin, Whitmer, ” Rollstin, Null, Dan Chappel, Donald Trump, Trump, Ed White Organizations: FBI, Army Locations: Antrim County, Molitor, Bellaire , Michigan, Detroit, Dublin , Ohio

☆ Three of the men involved in the plot to kidnap Michigan governor sentenced to prison
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-15 | by ( The Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +4 min

Musico was sentenced to a minimum of 12 years in prison, followed by his son-in-law Morrison at 10 years and Bellar at seven. Judge Thomas Wilson presided over the first batch of convictions in state court, following the high-profile conspiracy convictions of four others in federal court. Bellar is clueless about any plot to kidnap the governor,” attorney Andrew Kirkpatrick said again in a court filing last week. Separately, in federal court in Grand Rapids, Fox and Croft face possible life sentences in two weeks. Two men who pleaded guilty received substantial breaks: Ty Garbin is free after a 2 1/2-year prison term while Kaleb Franks was given a four-year sentence.

☆ 3 men convicted of supporting plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Whitmer
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-26 | by ( Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +3 min

Three men accused of supporting a plot to kidnap Michigan’s governor were convicted of all charges Wednesday, a triumph for state prosecutors after months of mixed results in the main case in federal court. They held gun drills in rural Jackson County with a leader of the scheme, Adam Fox, who was disgusted with Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and other officials in 2020 and said he wanted to kidnap her. Prosecutors said COVID-19 restrictions ordered by Whitmer turned out to be fruit to recruit more people to the Watchmen. Defense attorneys argued that the three men had broken ties with Fox by late summer 2020 when the Whitmer plot came into focus.

☆ 3 men convicted of supporting plot to kidnap Gov. Whitmer
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-26 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer waits to speak at a canvass kickoff on Michigan Primary Election Day on August 2, 2022 in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Three men accused of supporting a plot to kidnap Michigan's governor were convicted of all charges Wednesday, a triumph for state prosecutors after months of mixed results in the main case in federal court. They held gun drills in rural Jackson County with a leader of the scheme, Adam Fox, who was disgusted with Gov. Prosecutors said Covid-19 restrictions ordered by Whitmer turned out to be fruit to recruit more people to the Watchmen. Defense attorneys argued that the three men had broken ties with Fox by late summer 2020 when the Whitmer plot came into focus.

☆ There's overwhelming support for an age limit on the president and Congress. Here's why that won't happen anytime soon.
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-26 | by ( Bryan Metzger | Brent D. Griffiths | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +21 min

Some have proposed age limits for elected officials amid concerns about America's gerontocracy. The history of the contemporary movement for term limits largely dates back to the early 1990s, when dozens of states enacted term limits not just for their own legislatures but for their federal representatives in Washington. "Put it this way: I'm a little more interested in term limits than age limits," Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland told Insider. "There's a logic to term limits, because the principle of democracy is taking turns," Raskin, 59, said. "If there were to be term limits, the legislature certainly should have more terms than the executive," he offered.

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