Because I appear to have confused some straight people - and, hey - the more you know - the company’s founder George Duroy, goes by a pseudonym based on the name of the character in the book “Bel Ami,” that Pattinson will play in the adaptation:
Bel Ami (adult film company)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This article is about the pornography film studio. For other uses, see Bel Ami (disambiguation).
Bel Ami is a Bratislava-based pornographic film company established by George Duroy, who is Slovak. (“Duroy” is a pseudonym based on the protagonist of Guy de Maupassant’s novel Bel Ami.) “Bel Ami” means “beautiful friend” in French.
Bel Ami’s trademarks are its exceptionally beautiful, wholesome-looking, uncircumcised Eastern European models in their late teens and early to mid-twenties, with slim, mostly muscular bodies and boyish faces who often both “top” and “bottom”.
The company quickly became known for its unique style of filmmaking, more romantic and professionally directed than the typical adult product. Besides hard and softcore videos, Bel Ami has also released several calendars and photo books, like Howard Roffman’s The Boys of Bel Ami (2006).
Iowa
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Iowa has always been a leader in the area of civil rights.
In 1839, the Iowa Supreme Court rejected slavery in a decision that found that a slave named Ralph became free when he stepped on Iowa soil, 26 years before the end of the Civil War decided the issue
In 1868, the Iowa Supreme Court ruled that racially segregated “separate but equal” schools had no place in Iowa, 85 years before the U.S. Supreme Court reached the same decision.
In 1873, the Iowa Supreme Court ruled against racial discrimination in public accommodations, 91 years before the U.S. Supreme Court reached the same decision.
On April 3, 2009, the Iowa Supreme Court ruled that the state’s law forbidding same-sex marriage was unconstitutional. This made Iowa the third state in the U.S. to permit same-sex marriage.
If the average of ahead-of-the-pack Iowa’s civil rights history proves accurate, the U.S. Supreme Court should legalize gay marriage across the country in 67.33 years, or roughly 2076.
When I’m 92, and, let’s face it, dead, or at the very least, impotent.
Maybe I’m a huge geek, but I find this kinda shit fascinating:
Largest cities in the United States by population by decade
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This entry tracks and ranks the population of the largest cities in the United States by decade, starting with the 1790 Census. For 1790 through 1990, tables are taken from “Population of the 100 Largest Cities and Other Urban Places in the United States: 1790 to 1990.” For year 2000 rankings, data from the Census Bureau’s tally of “Cities with 100,000 or More Population Ranked by Selected Subject” is used.For further research on year 2000 urban population, the County and City Data Book might be instructive.
A few examples (for the full list click here):
In response to yet another mind-boggling stint south of the border, I offer this basic Canadian geography lesson via wikipedia. On three different occasions while in California last week, I encountered people completely ignorant to their northern neighbour. Sure, they knew I should say “a-boot” and play hockey and listen to Celine Dion, but I did a call out to a group of 12 people at one point and only ONE knew that the Canadian capital was Ottawa (one offered “Alberta,” another “Quebec”). Others could not name any Canadian cities beyond the big three of Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver (and some couldn’t even go there). And this was not the first time I’ve encountered this. Now, I understand Americans are not exposed to Canadian popular culture in the way we are of them. So it makes sense that they’d be at a disadvantage in terms of geography knowledge bases. So instead of hating, I’m educating:
Friday the 13th
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Friday the 13th is the thirteenth day in a month that falls on Friday, which superstition holds that it is a day of good or bad luck. In the Gregorian calendar, this day occurs usually at least once a year.
The fear of Friday the 13th is called paraskavedekatriaphobia, a word derived from the concatenation of the Greek words Paraskevi () (meaning Friday), and dekatreis () (meaning thirteen), attached to phobia () (meaning fear). This is a specialized form of triskaidekaphobia, a simple phobia (fear) of the number thirteen, and is also known as friggatriskaidekaphobia. The term triskaidekaphobia was derived in 1911 and first appeared in a mainstream source in 1953.
According to folklorists, there is no written evidence for a “Friday the 13th” superstition before the 19th century. The earliest known documented reference in English occurs in an 1869 biography of Gioachino Rossini:
[Rossini] was surrounded to the last by admiring and affectionate friends; and if it be true that, like so many other Italians, he regarded Friday as an unlucky day, and thirteen as an unlucky number, it is remarkable that on Friday, the 13th of November, he died.
However, some folklore is passed on through oral traditions. In addition, “determining the origins of superstitions is an inexact science, at best. In fact, it’s mostly guesswork.” Consequently, several theories have been proposed about the origin of the Friday the 13th superstition.
One theory states that it is a modern amalgamation of two older superstitions: that thirteen is an unlucky number and that Friday is an unlucky day.
According to the Stress Management Center and Phobia Institute in Asheville, North Carolina, an estimated 17 to 21 million people in the United States are affected by a fear of this day. Some people are so paralyzed by fear that they avoid their normal routines in doing business, taking flights or even getting out of bed. “It’s been estimated that $800 or $900 million is lost in business on this day”. Despite this, representatives for both Delta and Continental Airlines say that their airlines don’t suffer from any noticeable drop in travel on those Fridays.
There are conflicting studies about the risk of accidents on Friday the 13th. The Dutch Centre for Insurance Statistics (CVS) on June 12, 2008, stated that “fewer accidents and reports of fire and theft occur when the 13th of the month falls on a Friday than on other Fridays, because people are preventatively more careful or just stay home; but statistically speaking, driving is a little bit safer on Friday 13th; in the last two years, Dutch insurers received reports of an average 7,800 traffic accidents each Friday; but the average figure when the 13th fell on a Friday was just 7,500. However, a 1993 study in the British Medical Journal that compared the ratio of traffic accidents between Friday the 6th and Friday the 13th, stated that there is a significant increase in traffic-related accidents on Fridays the 13th.
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