Actor Robert Downey Jr has in the past been applauded for his edgy roles.
But his latest may be a step too far – as the actor dons make-up to play a rather convincing looking black man in a new Hollywood film starring comic actor Ben Stiller.
ANNAPOLIS, Md. — On Sundays at the Naval Academy Chapel, at a few minutes past 11 a.m., the choir stops singing and a color guard carrying the academy flag and the American flag strides up the aisle.
Below a cobalt blue stained-glass window of Jesus, one midshipman dips the academy flag before the altar cross, and the other dips the American flag.
The dipping of the flag has begun this nondenominational Protestant service at the Naval Academy for 40 years. But in civilian life, the American flag is never to be dipped, and the Navy says, it is not dipped at any other worship service at the academy or at any other installation.
In October, after the academy’s superintendent, Vice Adm. Jeffrey L. Fowler, raised questions about the ritual with the academy chaplains, they suspended the flag-dipping because “there was a concern over teaching midshipmen something not practiced anywhere in the fleet,†the academy’s spokesman, Cmdr. Ed Austin, said in an e-mail message.
But the pause lasted only a few months. Now the flags are being dipped again, and the superintendent, who has held his post since June, has stopped attending the 11 a.m. service. Evangelical Christians and their critics alike assert that the academy had to reconsider after an outcry by congregants and alumni.
ASTRONAUTS aboard the International Space Station (ISS) are to get an unusual treat — an mp3 player loaded with a playlist of songs specially chosen for people in orbit.
The Top Ten was selected by a 14-year-old Norwegian girl, Therese Miljeteig, who won a competition staged by the European Space Agency (ESA).
Her prize is to watch the launch this weekend of ESA’s space freighter, the Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV), at the Kourou space base, French Guiana.
After launch, the cargo ship will dock automatically in low Earth orbit with the ISS, bringing food, water and other essentials to the ISS crew, as well as clothing and other personal items.
This was the winning selection, which beat out 1,000 rivals from 10 countries:
Here Comes The Sun – The Beatles
Come Fly With Me – Frank Sinatra
Rocket Man – Elton John
Up Where We Belong – Joe Cocker and Jennifer Warnes
Imagine – John Lennon
Flashdance – What A Feeling – Irene Cara
Walk of Life – Dire Straits
Fly – Celine Dion
Rockin’ All Over The World – Status Quo
I Believe I Can Fly – R Kelly
We feel pretty safe in saying that we’re the first people to ever make a bacon-based lollipop. And not just any bacon, either- we use sustainable, organic, cured bacon- we kinda felt that it went well with the organic Vermont maple syrup we were using as a base, you know?
While we admit that it’s pretty far from the norm (it’s definitely not kosher!), once you make that initial leap of faith and try it out, we’re positive that you’ll love it. The salty chunks of bacon make a delicious and unique counterpoint to the subtle sweetness of the maple, and oh, yeah- you’ll be eating an oh-my-god bacon lollipop!
A perfect gift for the sweet-toothed pork aficianado in your life.