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Overnight Briefing & General Reality Check - May 11, 2016
May 11, 2016
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Sucking the life out of the wire services:
Sick of seeing stick-thin, perfect 10's competing in the pageant world? The Miss USA competition is giving "normal" girls a shot, too, with the chance to become a 52nd contestant. People magazine reports the organization has chosen ten women who they feel "best embody" the title based on originality, personality and a web interview. Potential contenders include CATHERINE WILLIAMS, who serves in the United States Army, to a computer programmer from Nashville, a fitness trainer, cancer survivor and full-time student/oil and gas pipeline worker from Wyoming. Vote for your favorite now at #FindingMiss52; the pageant airs live on Fox at 7 pm (Eastern), Jun 05. (Lee)
On, off and way-off-Broadway:
This makes too much sense. The touring company of "Hamilton" will take over Washington, D.C. next year. Playbill.com says the smash hit musical's producers announced yesterday that "Hamilton" will make at home at the Kennedy Center during the 2017-18 season. Exact dates and ticket sale info have not been released yet, but the best way to score a pair is to get a full season subscription for the Kennedy Center's 2016-17 offerings, which will put you at the top of the list for the following season. Get it? (Marino)
High school hijinks:
This grieving high school teacher in Fort Worth, Texas, was overwhelmed by the kindness of her students.
Students of TONYA ANDREWS knew something was wrong when the statistics teacher started crying in class one day. It turns out the Joshua High School instructor was mourning the death of her 16-year-old cat, BLONDIE. The next day, students surprised her with a bouquet of flowers, cupcakes --and two baby kittens. A video has been posted of Andrews receiving the surprise and crying tears of joy. Student RACHEL HANHART says her mom found the kittens by searching online for pets in need of a home. (Still)Going Geek-dot-com:
A 15-year-old from Canada discovered a lost, ancient Mayan city using nothing but his brains and Google Earth. And what have you done lately?
The BBC says young WILLIAM GADOURY of Saint-Jean-de-Matha, Quebec made the discovery by analyzing Mayan star charts from the ancient Madrid Codex. He had a theory that the Mayan cities corresponded to the star charts, and overlaid the constellation charts onto Google Earth images of the Yucatan Peninsula. He was able to show that the 117 Mayan cities did indeed match the star positions, with the brightest stars representing more major cities.
That was cool enough. But then he noticed one of the constellations contained three stars, but only two known ancient cities lined up with his maps. The location of the third star corresponded with a location on the Mexico-Belize border --an area covered in heavy vegetation when viewed through Google Earth images. After the Canadian Space Agency heard about William's theory, he got access to more detailed satellite images --including pictures that showed Mayan remains that were exposed following a 2005 fire in the area. After all was said and done, the teenager had found the 118th Mayan city --the fourth largest, with 30 buildings and an 86-meter pyramid. He even got to name the city --it is now known as Ka-ak'Chi,' which means "Mouth of Fire." (Bartha) -
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