Tony Rafty (born Anthony Raftopoulos; 12 October 1915 – 9 October 2015) was an Australian artist. He specialized in drawing caricatures. He sketched sportsmen and women at every Olympic Games from 1948 (in London) to 1996 (in Atlanta).
Rafty was born in Paddington, New South Wales, Australia. His parents were Greek immigrants.
In 1981 Rafty became the world’s first caricaturist to have subjects appear on national stamps, with caricatures of sportsmen Victor Trumper , Walter Lindrum , Sir Norman Brookes and Darby Munro appearing on stamps issued by Australian Post.
Rafty died on 9 October 2015 in Sydney, Australia from complications of pneumonia, three days before his 100th birthday.
Steve Mackay
Steve Mackay (September 25, 1949 – October 11, 2015) was an American tenor saxophone player. He was best known for performing with The Stooges. His most famous songs are in the Stooges' second album "Fun House". Mackay was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Mackay died in Daly City, California from sepsis at the age of 66.
The Land of Gorch
The Land of Gorch is a series of stories in episodes from the first season of the comedy television show "Saturday Night Live". It was special because it included Jim Henson's Muppets. Before he worked on "Sesame Street", Henson had made his puppet characters for a more adult audience, including his show "Sam and Friends". His characters were regular appearances on the late-night-comedy television shows including "The Ed Sullivan Show". After "Sesame Street", Henson was afraid that he would only be able to get work in the future on children's television series. His friend and advisor Bernie Brillstein, who also represented Gilda Radner, Dan Aykroyd, and John Belushi, helped him move over from his prior work to "Saturday Night Live".
The idea behind "The Land of Gorch" was that it had Muppet characters in a far-away place, who were members of a royal family. They behaved rudely, with many references to drug abuse, sex, and drinking alcohol. Characters included King Ploobis and Queen Peutra and children, and servants Scred and Vazh. These characters often spoke to their wise prophet Mighty Favog for advice.
The staff of "Saturday Night Live" disagreed with Henson's ideas. Writers Michael O'Donoghue, Alan Zweibel, and Al Franken often tried to avoid writing the weekly sketches involving "The Land of Gorch". Henson felt they were trying to write for situational comedy and were not keeping true to his own ideas. Frank Oz agreed in the end that the match was not perfect between "Saturday Night Live" and "The Land of Gorch", and was thankful that by the end of the year he and Henson were able to move on to "The Muppet Show".
"The Land of Gorch" influenced many later creations by Jim Henson. His feature film "The Dark Crystal" used both puppetry techniques and story ideas from the sketches. The Jim Henson Company television show "Dinosaurs" later contained similar story ideas previously seen in "The Land of Gorch", including a plot-line about environmentalism.
Commentators talking about "The Land of Gorch" agreed that the reception was bad — "The A.V. Club" wrote that it became an open joke between the staff that no one wanted to continue having the sketches on "Saturday Night Live". "San Francisco Chronicle" called the characters the opposite of Kermit the Frog, and compared them to trolls. "DVD Talk" called the feature the worst mistake made in the first season of the "Saturday Night Live". "Vogue" described the characters as early versions of Muppets and the world they inhabited as quite dark. Academic Michael J. Bernsten wrote in his essay "The Muppetry of Nightmares" that the idea failed because the characters were not funny and did not have strong values.
Gareth
Gareth was one of the Knights of the Round Table in King Arthur's Court. In Sir Thomas Mallory's classic story, "Le Morte D'Arthur" ( French for "the death of Arthur"), Gareth is given the nickname of "Beaumains" by Sir Kay. After one year, Gareth revealed his identity as Sir Gawain's brother and went on a quest as a gift from Arthur.
He was named a knight by Sir Lancelot after a jousting and sword fighting challenge. He dies in the same story, which is the last in the series.
UTC+08:30
UTC+08:30 is the timezone in places below. The time is 8.5 hours later than Greenwich Mean Time.
Yabby
Yabby or Yabbie is a name given in Australia to two different kinds of crustacean.
The Return (Bathory album)
The Return (the full name is The Return of the Darkness and Evil; sometimes called The Return...) is the second studio album released by the Swedish extreme metal Bathory. It was released on vinyl on 27 May 1985, through Combat Records. The album was very important in the death metal and black metal scene.
Plant hormone
Plant hormones (or Phytohormones) are chemicals that regulate plant growth. In the UK they are called 'plant growth substances'. The best known plant hormone is auxin.
Plant hormones are signal molecules produced within the plant. They occur in extremely low concentrations. Hormones regulate cellular processes in targeted cells. Hormones also govern the formation of flowers, stems, leaves, the shedding of leaves, and the development and ripening of fruit.
Plants, unlike animals, lack glands that produce and secrete hormones. Individual cells can produce hormones. They affect which tissues grow upward and which grow downward, leaf formation and stem growth, fruit development and ripening, plant longevity, and even plant death. Hormones are vital to plant growth, and, lacking them, plants would be mostly a mass of undifferentiated cells. So they are also known as growth factors or growth hormones.
Phytohormones are found not only in higher plants, but in algae too, with similar functions. They also occur in fungi and bacteria, where they may be used to induce beneficial reactions in host plants.
Auxin
Auxins are a class of plant hormones (or plant growth substances) with some morphogen-like characteristics. Auxins have a main role in coordination of many growth and behavioral processes in the plant's life cycle. they are essential for plant body development.
Auxins and their role in plant growth were first described by the Dutch scientist Frits Warmolt Went. Kenneth V. Thimann isolated auxin and found its chemical structure to be indole-3-acetic acid (IAA). Went and Thimann co-authored a book on plant hormones, "Phytohormones", in 1937.
There are synthetic auxins, and in big doses they can be used as herbicides. Agent Orange is a mixture of synthetic auxins.
Muse (Grace Jones album)
Muse is the third studio album by Jamaican recording artist Grace Jones. The album was released in September 4, 1979 by Island Records.
"Muse" was the last of Jones's disco albums that was recorded with producer Tom Moulton. Her first album was released 1977 with her debut "Portfolio". It was a mix of disco and R&B. After "Muse" Jones moved on to making reggae and electronica sounding albums in the 1980s.
Warm Leatherette (Grace Jones album)
Warm Leatherette is the fourth studio album by Jamaican recording artist Grace Jones. The album was released on 9 May 1980 through Island Records.
For the album Jones worked with reggae producers Sly and Robbie. The album is different from Jones' first three albums as they were mainly disco and R&B. This album had reggae and electronica sounds. Chris Blackwell planned to make a record with "a harsh sound that was heavy with Jamaican rhythm".
Side A
Side B
Nightclubbing (Grace Jones album)
Nightclubbing is the fifth studio album by Jamaican singer Grace Jones, released on May 11, 1981 by Island Records.
The album includes reggae-oriented covers of the songs by Flash and the Pan, Bill Withers, Iggy Pop, and Ástor Piazzolla, as well as several new tracks, three of which were co-written by Jones. The album was Jones' second album to use a reggae, electronica and R&B sound.
2014 Deluxe Edition:
Living My Life (Grace Jones album)