samhexum

Citi Field named USA Today’s readers’ choice winner for best stadium food

Best apple picking orchards for families near NYC Citi Field named USA Today’s readers’ choice winner for best stadium food

Thank you for making me think of that aspect of the situation.

The Most Popular Fast Food Chain in Each State, According to Search DataWhich drive-thru line is everyone around you hitting up? Alabama: Church's Chicken (1.4 million searches) Alaska: Sonic Drive-In (800,000 searches) Arizona: In-N-Out Burger (2.2 million searches) Arkansas: Chick-fil-A (1 million searches) California: Taco Bell (7 million searches) Colorado: Culver's (1.5 million searches) Connecticut: Five Guys (1.3 million searches) Delaware: Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen (600,000 searches) Florida: McDonald's (8 million searches) Georgia: Waffle House (2.5 million searches) Hawaii: Jollibee (900,000 searches) Idaho: Jack in the Box (850,000 searches) Illinois: Portillo's (3 million searches) Indiana: Steak 'n Shake (1.7 million searches) Iowa: Pizza Ranch (1.2 million searches) Kansas: Freddy's Frozen Custard & Steakburgers (1 million searches) Kentucky: KFC (2.3 million searches) Louisiana: Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen (2.1 million searches) Maine: Dunkin' Donuts (700,000 searches) Maryland: Chick-fil-A (1.6 million searches) Massachusetts: Dunkin' Donuts (3.2 million searches) Michigan: Little Caesars (2.4 million searches) Minnesota: Dairy Queen (2 million searches) Mississippi: Zaxby's (900,000 searches) Missouri: Panera Bread (1.8 million searches) Montana: Wendy's (750,000 searches) Nebraska: Runza (800,000 searches) Nevada: In-N-Out Burger (1.7 million searches) New Hampshire: Dunkin' Donuts (600,000 searches) New Jersey: White Castle (2.1 million searches) New Mexico: Blake's Lotaburger (700,000 searches) New York: Shake Shack (6.5 million searches) North Carolina: Bojangles' (2.3 million searches) North Dakota: Taco John's (400,000 searches) Ohio: Skyline Chili (2 million searches) Oklahoma: Braum's (1.5 million searches) Oregon: Dutch Bros. Coffee (1.6 million searches) Pennsylvania: Wawa (4 million searches) Rhode Island: Dunkin' Donuts (600,000 searches) South Carolina: Bojangles' (1.4 million searches) South Dakota: Culver's (500,000 searches) Tennessee: Krystal (1.6 million searches) Texas: Whataburger (7 million searches) Utah: Cafe Rio (1 million searches) Vermont: Ben & Jerry's (400,000 searches) Virginia: Chick-fil-A (2.1 million searches) Washington: Starbucks (3 million searches) West Virginia: Krispy Kreme (1.2 million searches) Wisconsin: Culver's (2.5 million searches) Wyoming: Arby's (450,000 searches)

A NEW TEXAS LAW I AGREE WITH: A new Texas law requires drunken drivers who kill parents or guardians to pay child support to the victims’ children until the youths turn 18 . Bipartisan House Bill 393 went into effect Friday. Children will receive payments until they turn 18 or graduate from high school, whichever comes later. The bill was signed into law by Gov. Greg Abbott June 2. “Any time a parent passes is tragic, but a death at the hands of a drunk driver is especially heinous,” Abbott tweeted on July 25th. The court will determine the monthly payment depending on a number of factors, including the financial needs of the child and the surviving parent or guardian, if there is one, as well as the financial resources of the defendant. The payments are to be paid to a surviving parent or guardian, or the Department of Family and Protective Services, if the child is placed in their care. If the defendant isn’t able to make the necessary payments because of imprisonment, they should begin payments no later than one year after being released. “The defendant must pay all arrearages regardless of whether the restitution payments were scheduled to terminate while the defendant was confined or imprisoned in the correctional facility,” the law states. HB 393 applies to incidents committed on or after it became a law. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/texas-law-drunk-drivers-child-support-rcna103034 As I emphasized above, this was a bipartisan bill, so please don't drag politics into any comment you post. This seems like a common-sense (and just) measure to me, but maybe I'm not seeing some angle. I know it can leave the killer with years of financial obligation after they 'pay their debt to society', but the killers leave the kids with a lifetime of emotional loss. And just like if you can't do the time, don't commit the crime, if you can't pay the price, it's not gonna be nice.

No matter what, always strive to look professional and serious at all times.

Well, the resemblance is uncanny...

When 'Brick and mortar' stores were just stores. https://apple.news/A4gLZVwAuSUmBCaWmS8c4MA Radio Shack went through multiple bankruptcies and, while the brand shuttered thousands of locations, it never fully went away. In the U.S. a few hundred franchisees continued to operate as did franchise owners around the world. The biggest franchise operator of the brand, El Salvador-based Unicomer Group, has now acquired the company. It has big plans to not only revamp its website but also to build back its brick-and-mortar presence in the U.S. Radio Shack's new owner plans to add more merchandise for its current franchisees to be able to stock and it plans an Amazon storefront as well as new physical locations for the once ubiquitous chain. At its peak, Radio Shack was pretty much everywhere, operating 7,000 stores globally with most of those in the U.S. The new owners plan to lean into the offerings that differentiate the brand from Best Buy and chains like Target and Walmart that sell a lot of electronics. "Private label offerings, including drones, headphones, radios, and adapters, were strongly emphasized pre-bankruptcy to offset the margin pressures, a push expected to be continued under the new owners," RetailWire reported. Does the market need Radio Shack? Radio Shack went out of business because Amazon (and to a lesser extent Best Buy) made its selection less unique. As smartphones became common, chargers and accessories basically became commodities, which squeezed margins, and forced Radio Shack into bankruptcy. That competition has only gotten more intense and it does leave questions as to whether there's a need for the chain to grow its brick-and-mortar presence. "A major comeback in the US will be extremely challenging. The electronics market has thin margins, loads of competition, and because the products are very similar from retailer to retailer it can be hard to differentiate," GlobalData retail division Managing Director Neil Saunders commented on Retailwire. "As such, I struggle to see a new pathway to success – especially in the current market where electronics sales remain firmly in the doldrums." Gary Sankary, who has 50 years in the retail business, was less kind in his comments. "I can’t see any scenario where this works in the United States," he wrote. "...The market for private-label electronics is small. The market for electronics components (which I do miss) is even smaller these days, no one fixes anything anymore."

Somebody would probably pay good money to do and/or watch that.

Went to the doctor on Monday. This was (I believe) the third time I got my blood pressure taken by Jeff Stryker's and my long-lost triplet sister. Same exact birthdate. (We chuckle every time.) Sis is black.

Mookie Betts had an August for the ages. The Los Angeles Dodgers’ superstar finished the month with an absurd .455 batting average, 11 home runs and 51 hits, leading the franchise to its first 24-win month since moving to the West Coast. Betts’ red-hot month not only inserted him into the National League MVP conversation, it also helped Los Angeles all but put away the NL West. But Thursday night, during a thrilling 8-7 loss to the Braves at Dodger Stadium, Betts elevated his month of August from excellent to historic, going 2-for-4 with two home runs, a walk and three runs scored. The performance helped Betts become just the third player since 1900 — and first in nearly a century — to have a .450+ batting average with 50-plus hits and 10-plus home runs in a single month, joining all-time greats Babe Ruth (July 1923 and 1924) and Lou Gehrig (June 1930), according to ESPN Stats & Info. It was just the 12th time in MLB history that a player hit .450-plus and hit 10-plus home runs in a calendar month (min. 90 PAs) and the first time since Barry Bonds did it in April 2004. And Acuna us right there with Freeman.

Brightline, the nation’s only privately owned train company, will introduce high-speed service from Miami to Orlando in the coming weeks that will cut the commute in half. The Brightline Florida link will reach speeds of more than 125 mph in some areas — the fastest train outside of the Acela-service Northeast corridor stretching from Washington, DC, and Boston. The 170-mile rail link will run 16 daily round trips between downtown Miami and Orlando International Airport beginning later this year. Tickets start at $79 and go up to $149 for first-class seats. Amtrak currently offers two daily train trips between Miami and Orlando — ranging in price between $39 and $49 — that usually takes six hours and 19 minutes. A faster Amtrak Silver Service train can make the trip in just over five hours. Brightline first began operations five years ago, when it launched a 67-mile Miami-to-West Palm Beach route — the first privately funded passenger rail built in the US in more than a century. Fortress Investment Group, a private equity firm co-founded by billionaire Milwaukee Bucks owner Wes Edens and Randal Nardone, owns the Brightline service. Edens told The Washington Post that Florida’s intercity expansion will serve as a kind of blueprint for the company’s ambitions to replicate similar rail-building out West. Rail construction for a rapid train route connecting Los Angeles and Las Vegas is scheduled to begin later this year after the federal funding for the $12 billion project, known as Brightline West, was given approval by regulators. The funding was part of the $66 billion allocated for rail in the $1 trillion infrastructure deal signed by Biden in 2021. The all-electric bullet train will ferry passengers along the 218-mile route at a speeds of almost 200 mph — completing the trip from Las Vegas to Rancho Cucamonga in two hours and 10 minutes. The line, which is scheduled to begin service in late 2027 or early 2028, will include stops at Hesperia, Calif., and Victor Valley, Calif. “Florida is Version 1.0, and we think it’s a great 1.0,” Edens told The Washington Post. “Version 2.0, the high-speed rail from Vegas to L.A., we think is the real embodiment of what high-speed rail can and should look like,” Edens said. “And that’s the system that people will look at and emulate when they look at building systems around the country.” Brightline’s Florida service has had its share of hiccups. At least 88 people have died due to collisions with Brightline trains since it started operating in 2017, though none of the deaths were blamed on the company. Investigators said the deaths could be attributed to either suicides or pedestrians and drivers violating traffic laws by circumventing crossing barriers in an attempt to beat the oncoming train rather than wait for it to pass. The trains travel up to 79 mph through densely populated urban and suburban areas along 70 miles of track between Miami and West Palm Beach that it shares with the Florida East Coast freight line. An AP analysis found that Brightline averages about one death for every 35,000 miles its trains travel, three times worse than the next mid-size or major railroad. In response to the accidents, Brightline has installed infrared detectors to warn engineers if anyone is lurking near the tracks so they can slow down or stop. The company also has added more fencing and landscaping to make track access more difficult.

Zac Efron posts pics showing off abs w/ brother Dylan The “High School Musical” star, 35, and his younger brother, 31, flashed big smiles as they showed off their six-packs while vacationing in Idaho.

The cost of Pledge alone would be prohibitive!

I guess that's one of life's great mysteries...

NOT ENOUGH WOOD IN THE DECOR... Step Inside a Vintage Electric Light-Bath Cabinet in a Bronxville Tudor, Yours for $1.995 Million Wrapped in old world style, this Bronxville stone Tudor still has some of the amenities that would have attracted a 1920s house hunter, including a bathroom in the latest Art Deco style complete with a contraption that promised therapeutic benefits. Perhaps modern home buyers aren’t on the lookout for an electric light-bath cabinet, but the house on the market at 9 Rittenhouse Road is also awash in details like half timbering, beamed ceilings, paneling, and mantels. Completed in 1928, it was constructed as part of the Corwood development abutting the Siwanoy Country Club and west of the downtown core of Bronxville. Corwood was a project of the Corlando Corporation, which had S. Wilbur Corman as its president. The project included 24 house sites in a woodland setting, with Bronxville resident Lewis Bowman as the consulting architect and A.F. Brinckerhoff as the landscape architect. A full page ad for the project in 1927 promised it was “a highly restricted development” for families that wished to “develop the right type of home.” Corman was an advertising man who turned to development and moved into the new neighborhood he was promoting. In 1928 he and wife Anna M. Corman moved into the newly completed house at 9 Rittenhouse Road. The Tudor style of their home was a popular choice of the era, with the largest homes earning the nickname Stockbroker Tudor. While the 1920s evoke visions of skyscrapers and streamlined design, it was also a time that saw a bit of Old England translated into a housing style fit for the tycoons of the modern era. With their asymmetrical massing, picturesque half timbering, and peaked roofs, Tudor-style homes began dotting the emerging U.S. suburbs in the late 19th century and continued to be popular until the start of the Depression. Architect Lewis Bowman was proficient in the revival styles that were the rage at the time, including Mediterranean and Dutch Colonial, with a particular emphasis on English-inspired designs like Tudor Revival. While his work pops up in Pelham Manor and Scarsdale, it is Bronxville with which he is most associated and where he headquartered his architectural practice. It is estimated that he designed more than 50 houses in Bronxville alone, and a 1930 monograph credits him with the design of the Corman house. In 1930 the census records the Cormans occupying the house, along with a live-in maid. Local papers reported on the many garden parties, teas, and bridge parties the couple hosted in their spacious abode. S. Wilbur Corman had only a decade of living in the home, passing away in 1938 at age 61. An obituary noted his health had been failing for three years before his death from heart disease. Back in 1915 he had also experienced a health setback, resigning from an advertising position after undergoing what a trade publication called a “severe operation” that necessitated a long break from work. Perhaps Corman’s health issues explain the electric light-bath cabinet still in place in the house. The wooden cabinet is outfitted with a stool, mirrors, and bulbs and set in a niche in the Art Deco bathroom. To partake in the therapy, a person would step inside, close the doors while leaving their head outside the box, and turn on a switch for a dose of heat from the incandescent bulbs. A patent for a radiant-heat bath was issued in 1896 to Dr. John Harvey Kellogg, wellness promoter and head of the Battle Creek Sanitarium. Kellogg, who advocated a number of health cures, believed in the therapeutic benefits of light for a long list of ailments. In his 1910 book “Light Therapeutics” he predicted that in time his invention would become a “necessary part of a complete bathroom outfit in private homes.” The list of ailments he suggested might benefit from the therapy included cardiac disease, diabetes, syphilis, and migraines. Kellogg said short stints of three to six minutes per treatment were typically sufficient, although longer sessions might be needed to address some conditions like rheumatism and gout. A 1925 ad for a Battle Creek electric-light bath. Image via Modern Hospital Curious Brooklynites in December of 1928 could stop by Loeser’s on Fulton Street for a “Battle Creek Health Week” to see a variety of Kellogg inventions on display, including the cabinet. There were also demonstrations led by a “prize winning beauty” on how to “safely reduce weight and build a firm body.” If the quirky cabinet isn’t a draw, the house also has more than 7,000 square feet of living space that includes eight bedrooms and 6.5 baths. Owners over the decades have left much of the original detail intact so it is easy to imagine the Cormans’ guests entering through the atmospheric entry hall with its beamed ceiling, half timbering on the walls, and stone mantel. There is also a paneled parlor and a window-filled dining room. The kitchen has been updated, and while a few style tweaks could bring it more in stylistic sympathy with the rest of the house, it has a dishwasher, an island, and plenty of cabinet space. There is a tantalizing glimpse of a pantry kitted out with a vintage sink, deep red elephant-adorned wallpaper, and shelves for bar necessities. Upstairs, in addition to all the bedroom space is a library with built-in shelves and another mantel. There is also another Art Deco bathroom, this one with violet fixtures and tiles. A shot of a dressing room with built-ins also shows a view of some vintage green floor tiles and violet wall tiles in an en suite bath. There is more entertaining space in a basement room with a beamed ceiling and cabinets on either side of a fireplace. One of those cabinets opens to reveal a vintage bar sink with more shelving space for a liquor stash. The house sits on just under an acre of land and is approached via a gently curved stone driveway. There is a stone patio at the rear of the house and an attached three-car garage. Listed with Susan Kelty Law of Houlihan Lawrence, the house is asking $1.995 million. The listing notes that a decision is expected in September on a tax grievance that was filed for the property. If you want to view an electric light-bath cabinet in splendid surroundings, one can be seen at Coe Hall, the Tudor Revival mansion at Planting Fields in Oyster Bay. The 65-room house, designed by Walker & Gillette, includes the dressing room of W. R. Coe fitted out with a restored cabinet. The house is open for guided and self-guided tours and is also set within an Olmsted Brothers-designed landscape well worth roaming. https://www.brownstoner.com/upstate/bronxville-tudor-house-for-sale-9-rittenhouse-road-electric-light-bath/

Did you know Bob's grandmother was a famous gangster? He called her Ma, though.

Star outfielder becomes MLB's first 30-60 man on his wedding night Congratulations, Mr. Acuna (Jr.), and yet... NL MVP race is shifting now Mookie is having a spectacular year as well, so... AND... who'd a-thunk it when he was chasing .400, but Luis Arraez leads Freddie Freeman by only .011 in the batting race with a month to go, so the chase is on...

NASA's lunar orbiter locates Russian spacecraft crash site NASA's lunar orbiter has photographed what's believed to be the crash site of Russia's failed Luna-25 mission

Agnetha Fältskog has relaunched her solo career with a new single. Speaking with BBC Radio 2 host Zoe Ball before the track was played on Thursday, Fältskog said the single was made with “a good feeling.” The single is from a reimagined version of her 2013 album “A.” Talking about how the idea to launch the new album “A+” came about, Fältskog said: “It came as an idea suddenly.” Fältskog, 73, said she talked with songwriter and producer Jörgen Elofsson, who also appeared on the BBC Radio 2 show, adding they wanted to make the 2013 album sound “totally new.” The “Where Do We Go From Here?” single is a new addition to the album. “I love music. Music is in my heart and in my brain all the time. I live and I sleep with music,” Fältskog said. Asked how it felt to hear the single on the radio, Fältskog said: “It feels good. You never get tired of it, to hear yourself on the radio. That’s really something. It’s always a tense feeling, you can say, about what are people going to think about this. But as long as you have your heart in it and you have done the best you can, because I’m not so young anymore and I’m very grateful that I still have my voice and a good composer beside me (Elofsson).” Next year will mark 50 years since ABBA won the Eurovision song contest, and the upcoming edition will be held in the band’s home country Sweden. Ball asked Fältskog whether the group were planning to do anything to mark the occasion, to which she responded: “You never know anything about ABBA … I don’t say anything about that.”

Dear Abby: I had my daughter later in life. I was almost 41. I am no beauty queen, but now, 12 years later, I have been asked by two different people if I am my daughter’s grandmother. It was so upsetting, I cried for weeks. I have always been self-conscious about my looks. My daughter is now going to be a teenager. I don’t want her future high school friends thinking I am her grandma, so I’ve been contemplating plastic surgery. My family insists I don’t need it. They’re calling me vain, foolish, selfish, etc. My husband is discouraging me because of the cost. (He’s pretty frugal.) Would it be selfish if it will make me feel better about myself? In the meantime, how do I handle any more “grandma” comments without punching someone in the nose? — Not That Old in Florida Dear Not That Old OLD BIDDY: In case you haven’t noticed, an increasing number of women are having children in their 40s (and a few even older). If you are contemplating cosmetic surgery only because you have a young child, a cheaper and more effective way to deal with it would be to simply tell the truth, which is that she’s your daughter. While cosmetic surgery can make someone more confident about their looks, it is not the case for everyone. Your family should not be ridiculing you for wanting to explore the option. A licensed mental health professional can help you decide whether you need a surgical procedure or an attitude adjustment. If it’s the former, schedule an appointment with a qualified surgeon to discuss your options. Blanche : You know, Sophia… This birthday thing kinda has me depressed as well. You think you could help me, too? Sophia Petrillo : Sure. No matter how bad things get, remember these sage words: you’re old, you sag, get over it! Blanche : [angrily] Sophia? Sophia Petrillo : So what if you knew Jesus personally? Wake up and smell the coffee, ya fossil! Blanche : My mistake; I thought since you look like Yoda, you were also wise. [walks off]