samhexum

If you take the headline literally, it would be even more tragic. As written, it indicates that the elderly woman killed both Katharine McPhee and David Foster's nanny... which brings up the point that that nanny position is an especially lucrative one - by the time the kid is old enough to no longer need one, David Foster will be old enough to need one.

(BTW, thanks... I never realized this was a joke until reading your posts.) Series 5 — Episode 15 The Joker Emma mentions she’s visiting Sir Cavalier Rousicana and Steed quips, “He sounds like an opera”. I can quote The Avengers for occasional situations in life. 😎

isn't that usually the best option? 😇😁😁😇 Ask Amy? Don't y'all be jealous of my lifestyle of the poor and anonymous, but... On Sunday I spent 2 1/4 hours on highways to drive a total of 57 miles to my sister & back to see their new home improvements, get their old blender that's been sitting in the closet that they aren't sure works (I haven't checked yet), hit ShopRite on the way home (very good sale on blueberries and Coke Zero), and (much more importantly) pick up the 1 1/2 pens of Ozempic my brother in law had left over when his doctor switched him to the middle dosage pens. I had just taken my last shot last week, and since I'm in medicare's donut hole, a refill will cost $755 for a 3 month supply. This will get me to mid-Sept, then I'll have to switch back to metformin (I have plenty on-hand) until January. But I spent $5 on lottery tickets (which I haven't checked yet, either), so I'm sure my money concerns are already a thing of the past. and came home and gave myself a shot of Ozempic, of course.

Katharine McPhee and David Foster’s nanny fatally run over by elderly woman at car dealership

Trees in Hell Early in the summer, Mayor Eric Adam’s commitment to planting more trees arrived at Maria Hernandez Park. One day, during a late morning jaunt, I unexpectedly spotted the tree planters who had appeared like a mirage. Some of them were using heavy duty machinery to quicken the pace of digging holes, as others lugged around little baby trees to drop in. It was amazing to see how efficient this operation was. These were tree planting professionals. A couple months have passed since and it looks like those budding trees aren’t doing so hot. Nearby, a game is underway at the volleyball courts. Some money could be on the line. But that doesn’t concern me. I’m kneeling down next to a little tree that’s planted smack dab in the middle of an open patch of grass. The sun damage looks irreversible. Close by, two other newly planted trees are fairing a little better. The three of them make the shape of an isosceles triangle. I see two strangers walking a dog and I ask them what they think about the new trees. Someone named Amanda speaks up first. “The trees look sad,” she says, “It seems like they didn’t think it through.” Her companion, Kyle agrees. “Yea, it seems like they’re trying to meet a quota.” After telling them that the planting campaign was connected to Eric Adams’ latest park improvement efforts, Kyle quips back: “Yep, of course. I knew it.” Amanda is even more charged about this: “It makes no sense. So they planted the trees but look at them… it seems not well thought through… Just look at them… It looks like they’re all going to die.” Elsewhere, though, some newly planted trees look like they’re doing well; if they can survive the winter, then perhaps they’ll come into their own by springtime. As for the tree planting program, there seems to be no signs of it letting up. Succeeding Bloomberg’s MillionTreesNYC initiative in 2007, its latest iteration has all the right intentions. After all, trees help clean up the air by absorbing carbon emissions. Earlier this year, various borough presidents encouraged Adams to plant up to a million more trees across the five boroughs, City Limits reported; “Trees cross party lines and geographic lines. They are the great uniter,” Mark Levine, Manhattan’s borough president, said at the time. Now, in an ideal world, this would be true. But judging by the few maladapted trees, the execution of the program seems iffy. It’s as if these trees have been sent here to be damned. For the love of Maria Hernandez Park, is there enough space for even one more sad tree? https://bushwickdaily.com/bushwick/maria-hernandez-park-one-million-trees/

And by "what a prick' I assume you mean it's spectacular, but he's a selfish lover.

The Hochul administration’s slow rollout of New York’s legal cannabis trade was a real buzzkill — and the market is still far from recovered from it, an industry group says in a stinging “report card.” The Coalition for Access to Regulated and Safe Cannabis gave the state Office of Cannabis Management the failing grades in various categories. Hochul team flunked NY's legal marijuana rollout while letting black... NYPOST.COM The Hochul administration's slow rollout of New York's legal cannabis trade was a real buzzkill, and the market...

Mayor Eric Adams’ administration is launching a new “vaccine equity” campaign aimed at persuading thousands of older and disabled New York City residents to get their updated COVID-19 and flu shots this fall and winter. The NYC Community Partnerships for Vaccine Access and Equity (CompPass) will launch the outreach effort to distribute the shots in the South Bronx, Far Rockaway in Queens and the Brooklyn neighborhoods of East New York, Brownsville, Coney Island, Sheepshead Bay and Brighton Beach. The city Health Department’s fundraising arm, the Fund for Public Health put out a request for bids to operate in those zip codes. The six-month initiative will begin in September, and allocate $394,500 to hire three community or faith-based groups that will conduct on-the-ground efforts to connect with seniors and residents with disabilities and encourage them to vax up. The effort to boost inoculation rates is also being supported by federal funding through the National Council on Aging. “Selected community and/or faith-based organizations (C/FBOs) will support a fall 2023/winter 2024 vaccination campaign to boost protection and limit the anticipated flu and COVID-19 surge,” the Health Department proposal says. “The goal is to increase the number of older adults (OA) and persons living with disabilities (PLWD) receiving COVID-19 and Influenza ‘flu’ vaccinations.” The proposal adds: “Wherever possible, vaccine champions will be ethnically, culturally, demographically, and age-appropriate for the target populations which promotes messaging credibility and raises community confidence.” I wanna see the champion who visits a retirement home for drag queens. The city vax campaign comes on the heels of the state Health Department reporting a double-digit spike in both COVID-19 cases and hospital admissions across the country. This new initiative is part of the city Public Health Corps (PHC) whose mission is to help communities that were disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, which typically have lower vaccination rates than the citywide average. The Mayor’s Taskforce on Racial Inclusion and Equity will also be involved in the campaign. “In addition to the deliverables of the contract, the executive leadership of selected contractors is expected to work with the NYC Health Department on strengthening capacity of and building trust with communities that have been disproportionately harmed by COVID-19,” health department officials said. The contractors will target at least 9,000 older New Yorkers and persons with disabilities in the selected neighborhoods — 2,700 in The Bronx; 4,500 in Brooklyn and 1,800 in Far Rockaway. I'll be going back to Walgreens. The effort includes conducting street canvassing and sponsoring community outreach and vaccine events, distributing 51,100 pieces of literature, making 31,100 phone texts, and arranging or scheduling ride-sharing and Access-A-Ride trips for seniors and residents with disabilities to get their shots. The Health Department must approve the contractors’ educational materials for medical accuracy before release. The contractors also must screen the targeted seniors and disabled for other health issues and refer them to the proper medical providers in a broader bid to bolster health outcomes. A Health Department spokesman said of the vaxx campaign, “COVID and flu can be serious for many New Yorkers and vaccination could be the difference between a few days recovering at home and a few days in the hospital. We will continue to promote vaccines to protect New Yorkers.”

Almost anything by Agnetha Faltskog. I still loved her voice, slightly lower at 70, when she recorded the ABBA Voyage album. ABBA Voyage (2021, about 70 when recorded): 2013 SOLO ALBUM (age 63): 1987 SOLO ALBUM (age 37): 1985 SOLO ALBUM (age 35): 1976 (age 26):

Roy had a brand new pair of shoes. He went to visit his friend. Being polite, he removed his shoes and left them at the door. While visiting with his friend, the friend’s cat discovers Roy's new shoes, likes the smell and proceeds to chew them up. Roy goes ballistic. The friend, feeling very bad, has a dilemma: he has two cats. One of the cats enters the room at that moment. The friend then asks: Pardon me Roy, is that the cat that chewed your new shoes?

I'm often amused at how short some songs from the 60s & 70s are. Tom packed a lot of hip-swiveling into 2:13, didn't he?

It took me 75 minutes to drive 28 miles from my apartment in Queens to my sister on Long Island today. All highway driving, except for 8 blocks of street driving at the start and end. It is always like that, no matter when you go. I told her my next car is going to be a helicopter.

Tom Jones, Half of Record-Setting ‘Fantasticks’ Team, Dies at 95He wrote the book and lyrics to a little show that opened in 1960 in Greenwich Village and became “the longest-running musical in the universe.” [Sophia and Dorothy come home after the Shady Pines mother-daughter beauty pageant] Dorothy: The big news is, we beat Gladys Goldfine, right, Ma? Sophia: Ahh, it was a hollow victory. Time has taken its toll on Gladys. She’s not the fierce competitor she once was. Dorothy: Y’know, for the talent section, she was supposed to do a medley from The Fantasticks. She started with “Try to Remember” and… she couldn’t.

PERVERT! 😇😁😁😇

Florida sheriff's office urges public to stop calling 911 on manatees having sex they should be glad they're not getting calls from manatees about withered retirees having sex.

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The taste was fine, but I'm better off staying with Pillsbury's crust because it's easier to stretch and shape then an amorphous blob of dough.

Perhaps one of the pediatricians was driving that truck.

Is Florida’s Brightline the train of the future? The $6.2 billion rail system is set to finally connect Miami with Orlando sometime in the coming weeks. Sometime this fall, a first-of-its-kind train will depart Southern Florida for a “magical” destination 236 miles north. Known as the Brightline, this privately-built, for-profit rail company will soon cut the ribbon on a 170-mile extension connecting the likes of Miami, Fort Lauderdale, and West Palm Beach with Orlando International Airport. Just beyond are many of America’s best-known theme parks, including Universal Studios Florida and Walt Disney World. Nearly nine years after construction began — and just four years after work on the higher-speed section to Orlando got underway — the $6.2 billion project has the potential to not just transform transportation in Florida, but in heavily-trafficked inter-urban corridors nationwide. At top speeds of 125 miles per hour, Brightline passengers departing Orlando will reach downtown Miami in just under three hours. It’s a faster and far more comfortable upgrade to existing transport options: A drive along the oft-congested highways between the two cities, or the five- to eight-hour trip riding Amtrak. And certainly more stylish: Brightline’s sleek black, white, and bright yellow trains are equipped with SpaceX Starlink Internet and leather seats; there’s even a business class-style lounge for passengers who purchase a “premium” ticket. Brightline plans to operate 16 daily round trips between Orlando and Miami, with one-way rides starting at $79, comparable to prices on Amtrak or Spirit Airlines. Built by Sacramento-based Siemens Mobility, the lower-emission diesel-electric locomotives have already run between Miami and West Palm Beach for several years. But this second-phase extension northward to Orlando will be the real test of Brightline’s change-making capacity when it opens in the coming weeks. Once that happens, Florida leaders expect Brightline — which already carried close to 1 million passengers during the first half of this year in South Florida — to serve 4.3 million annual “long-distance” riders between Orlando and Miami, while injecting more than $6 billion into the state’s economy as it more closely links the Magic Kingdom with South Beach. Brightline is the first privately-owned intercity rail system in the US. And its development, says CEO Mike Reininger, demonstrates the impact similar major infrastructure developments could achieve nationwide. “Seeing is believing,” says Reininger, who notes that multiple other cities have already reached out to Brightline for potential service lines. In many ways, Brightline offers the first evidence that train travel in America might someday resemble the ease and efficiency of railways in Europe and Asia. To be clear, Brightline isn’t done. The company plans to build on its service to Orlando with a future extension to Tampa 85 miles further west. Plus, company leaders tell The Post they’ll have shovels in the ground by year’s end on an entirely new Brightline West high-speed rail system connecting Southern California with Las Vegas. And that may just be the beginning. In an interview with The Post, Reininger teased the possibility of future, similar systems, noting the company has identified “a dozen or so” places elsewhere in the country that might be a fit. “We really do think, for certain parts of . . . the country, we have now developed a blueprint and a theory about a way to get it done in a meaningful time frame and in a way that is economic,” he said. Exactly what is that blueprint? For starters, Brightline’s Florida system sits in a densely populated, fast-growing state in perhaps the nation’s highest-demand tourism region. Last year saw 72 million visitors descend upon Orlando and over 50 million to Miami. These two cities are emblematic of the self-described “sweet spot” for rail: too close to fly, but far enough to make travelers think twice about driving; roughly 200 to 300 miles apart. Perhaps more important, though, was Brightline’s ability to skirt the red tape and court battles that typically accompany mega transport projects by using or building tracks in strategic locations; company executives studied past, failed rail projects and found getting track space (known as a “right of way”) is often the biggest hurdle. Brightline relied on existing tracks for large portions of its Florida line — tracks it has access to since its parent company, private equity-giant Fortress Investment Group, also owned the tracks’ original user: Florida East Coast Railway. In other places, Brightline’s tracks run down the median of interstate highways, which were completed decades ago. “This relieved [Brightline] of a lot of initial real-estate costs,” said rail expert Christopher P.L. Barkan, a professor who leads the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign’s Rail Transportation and Engineering Center. Using existing track also allowed Brightline to dramatically ease its battle for construction permitting, company executives tell The Post. Brighltline avoided knocking down forests or going through the legal maneuvers required to build new tracks through private property. Unsurprisingly, Brightline is taking a similar development approach out west, where it plans to run its trains along the Interstate-15 corridor that connects Los Angeles and Las Vegas. To sum it up in a football metaphor, Brightline started in a good field position. Its leaders acknowledge this. “Those starting characteristics are why we’ve been able to do what we’ve been able to do,” Reininger said of the company’s development strategies. That success, however, hasn’t been without setbacks — some sizable. Last year, boaters protested in Stuart, Fla., to demand more time to pass through the St. Lucie River Railway Bridge. Far more worrisome is Brightline’s already alarming fatality rate: Since its initial debut in 2017, some 30 motorists and pediatricians have been killed by Brightline trains. Could somebody please explain to me why kiddie docs are so vulnerable? The majority have been people struck by trains while walking on tracks; Brightline has repeatedly acknowledged the situation and announced a $45 million safety plan featuring “at least 33 miles of pedestrian safety measures”…along with “crucial safety improvements” at 156 railroad crossings.” For all Brightline’s successes, the unique circumstances around its private money/private rail development means it may not be a fit everywhere, experts caution. “Brightline has a lot of built-in advantages that not every project . . . is going to have,” Jim Mathews, president and CEO of the Rail Passengers Association, pointed out. “There are places in this country where that model can — and will — work. But there’s also plenty of places where it can’t.” Potential rail projects, he explains, should be tailored to a region’s specific circumstances rather than conform to a set corporate “blueprint.” For that reason, Mathews cautions against viewing Brightline’s rising prominence as a rebuke of Amtrak, even as the federally-funded rail system has drawn ire from lawmakers and passengers for its budget and service. Despite nearly $50 billion in federal subsidies in as many years, “Amtrak has never made a profit,” Rep. Troy Nehls (R-Texas) remarked during a June Congressional hearing with Amtrak executives. Such is the reality, Mathews says, for a rail company, like Amtrak, that’s required to deliver crucial service to even less profitable, hard-to-reach parts of the country on tracks that, outside its critical Northeast Corridor, are predominantly owned by (and therefore shared with) freight railroads. “Amtrak can’t be Brightline anymore than Brightline can be like Amtrak,” he said. Clearly, though, Brightline’s appearance on both coasts has demonstrated an appetite for alternative intercity passenger rail options, including those built with private funding. Brightline also arrives on the precipice of even larger change for trains in America, with the 2021 bipartisan infrastructure law having allocated tens of billions of dollars for rail projects nationwide. This includes more money for Amtrak than it had previously received in its entire existence, along with a new rail tunnel under the Hudson River. Even private companies like Brightline hope to benefit from the massive Federal money pot — the Nevada Department of Transportation has partnered with the company in applying for a reported $3.75 billion to support construction on Brightline’s western line. “I think we’re going to end up seeing a mix of both private and public sector operations of passenger railroad in the future,” said Barkan, whose research team has previously studied high-speed rail service between Chicago and St. Louis. Some of his former students have gone on to take jobs at Brightline. Of course, despite Brightline’s success, investors eyeing future rail projects will likely consider the fate of California’s long-delayed Bullet Train that’s planned between San Francisco and Los Angeles. Since California voters first authorized a $9 billion down payment in 2008, project costs have ballooned to as high as $100 billion, but the system currently has only 119 miles of rail under construction. It’s blunders like the Bullet Train that help put into perspective the significance of Brightline. “There’s been a lot of cooperation in terms of enabling them to get here,” Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer told The Post, acknowledging the joint efforts between Brightline and public officials required to prevent potential regulatory derailments along the way. “That is something that has curtailed efforts in some other parts of the country — getting tied up in litigation and not having your financing in place,” Dyer added (Miami Mayor Francis Suarez has been equally supportive of Brightline). In Orlando’s case, city officials helped smooth out Brightline’s acquisition of land controlled by the Central Florida Expressway and the Orlando Airport. Dyer hopes Brightline will get the green light to operate its Orlando extension by Sept. 24, when the city’s MLS team hosts Intercity Miami and its new superstar Lionel Messi. Brightline, meanwhile, has its eyes on another far larger sporting event: the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles. By then, it hopes to have its Western system complete. If achieved, it could make the global event one that could simultaneously showcase the prowess of American athletes and an improving US rail system. “The main thing is to get Americans to recognize the value of getting out of their car and getting onto their train,” Mathews said. “And increasingly, they do.” Yes, but as @nycman and @mike carey might say, it's still in Florida! https://nypost.com/2023/08/12/is-floridas-brightline-the-train-of-the-future/

Adventurous child, 3, escapes crib and walks to McDonald's while mother and twin sister sleep A Wisconsin mother recalled the frightening moment she woke up from her sleep to discover her child was missing — only to find the 3-year-old had escaped his crib and fled to McDonald’s. “He was not in the house. He was not in the basement. He was not in the front yard or the backyard,” Marissa Phiffer, the mother of the twins, explained in her now-viral TikTok. “This little boy woke up, put his shoes on and walked to McDonald’s.” Phiffer told TODAY.com that she fell asleep next to the children. However, when the mother awoke from her brief slumber, she made a heart-dropping discovery. One of the twins, Aiden, was not in the crib with his sister Aleiya — and even more gut-wrenching, his shoes were missing. Phiffer said she checked the neighbor’s backyard — a place where her son is known to wander off to. “I thought that’s where I’d find him. They have a bunch of rocks, and he likes to line them up and play with them,” Phiffer said. The 23-year-old mother immediately called 9-1-1, terrified about what could’ve happened to her son right under her nose. Police responded to the distressed mother’s home in “two seconds” with a photo of her son in hand and later informed Phiffer that Aiden was safe at a McDonald’s across the road from their home — a roughly .2 mile journey. A concerned citizen had noticed Aiden wandering toward the fast food chain and contacted the police, Phiffer shared. “We run in, and he goes, ‘Hi, Mom!’” Phiffer told the outlet, finding her son hanging out in the play area of the fast food chain. Phiffer explained she was too relieved to be angry at her son as he was found safe. Aiden, who his mother says is a big fan of McDonald’s, told her he went on the independent trip because he was “hungry.” “I almost bought him a Happy Meal, but I was embarrassed,” Phiffer said. “I just wanted to get out of there.” Phiffer has since installed child-proof safety locks and latches on the doors in an effort to prevent the children from sneaking off to the restaurant unsupervised. The toddler yearning for McDonald’s is so extreme that Phiffer explained that he would wake from deep slumbers if they pulled into the restaurant’s drive-thru. “Fries, nuggets, and apple slices — he’d eat that every day,” she told the outlet. “But that was actually his first time going to the PlayLand there.” The TikTok has been viewed over 2.8 Million times since being posted on July 31 — and has garnered over 500k likes. Commenters were pleased to hear the boy was safe and the mother was not alone in the wandering toddler fiasco. “My son did this! he didn’t walk to Mac Donald’s but went across the street, me and my husband was sleeping the cop walked in our house,” a user shared with the mother. Some even praised the boy’s determination. “On a positive note he is a go getter and has a lot of confidence. My kids wouldn’t go into a store by themselves for the longest time,” one mother wrote. “I want to send Aiden a McDonald’s gift certificate,” another commented, saying she’s “so glad he’s safe! He is a brave boy!” They really should make a commercial out of this.

'Dressed like a ninja' Hikers who found actor Julian Sands' remains on mountain recall 'surreal' experience What was most concerning to the hikers was the lack of equipment necessary for such a dangerous winter hike.