samhexum

'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.

I agree, and thought of that before posting this, but how many times have you heard about wealthy singers or groups spending anything to show appreciation and/or consideration for their fans? Just because she could've easily afforded to send every fan home in their own limo*** doesn't make what she did less nice. ***that meant buying each fan a limo, not just renting one.

The NY Post's restaurant critic apparently doesn't think there's ANY way to cook faux meat and make it tasty: Fake meat is failing because it's gross and unhealthy Beyond Meat, the No. 2 manufacturer of plant-based meat substitutes, announced this week that it lost $53 million in the second quarter of 2023 as its US revenue fell 40 percent. The company’s tailspin included the axing of its chief operating officer Doug Ramsey last fall after he bit a man’s nose — not a plant-based organ — in a road rage confrontation. The news follows meatless-market king Impossible Foods’ plans to chop 20 percent of its workforce on top of cuts it made last year. The belt-tightening moves are meant to keep “costs in line with revenue,” its chief executive said in February. Although sales remain strong, Impossible has repeatedly delayed an expected initial public offering since 2021, while employees have seen the value of their private shares plummet by 89 percent in the last two years, according to Bloomberg. Neither situation reflects unbridled optimism about long-term growth. Meanwhile, US beef consumption rebounded to 58.9 pounds per capita in 2022, up from a low of 54 pounds in 2017, according to the USDA. In New York City, steakhouses, not plant parlors, stand at the top of the restaurant food-chain. Any time a steakhouse closes, it’s immediately replaced by another steakhouse, not by a plant factory. For example, Rocco’s from Madison Avenue is taking over the former BLT Steak on East 57th Street. Eleven Madison Park chef/owner Daniel Humm came to a “mutual” decision with the owners of the new 425 Park Avenue building to back out of opening an all-vegan eatery there. It will instead be a normal, albeit “health-conscious,” restaurant by Jean-Georges Vongerichten. The hottest new dishes in town this year aren’t the latest spins on tofu but Mischa’s $29 hot dog and Tatiana’s short rib pastrami suya. Meat is the stealth menu anchor at lots of new and old restaurants that aren’t officially steakhouse — the Lambs Club, Monterey, The Grill and Knickerbocker Bar & Grill. Americans love beef, and American beef is delicious. I recently salivated over sweet-and-pungent chili-rubbed boneless ribeye at Michael Lomonaco’s Porter House; musty-and-funky, gorgonzola-cured Texas wagyu ribeye at Andrew Carmellini’s Carne Mare and mind-bending-luscious porterhouse on the bone at David Burke’s Red Horse in White Plains. And I’m not a big steak eater! But with specimens like these around, who wants “heme,” the protein released when soy leghemoglobin is synthesized from genetically modified yeast. The Impossible Burger relies on this tasty, lab-generated ingredient to make a faux burger that actually “bleeds.” Meanwhile, who really wants to sink their teeth into a Beyond Meat patty, which is made from such tasty ingredients as pea and rice protein, sunflower lecithin and methyl cellulose? Sure, most — but not all — medical professionals recommend limiting red meat consumption for cardiovascular health, but these frankenfoods aren’t what the doctor ordered. The giant beef-and-pork hot dog at Mischa is one of many meaty dishes New Yorkers are loving right now. Tamara Beckwith Tatiana’s short rib pastrami suya is one of the best dishes in the past year. Stephen Yang

Two new types of moles, named Talpa hakkariensis and Talpa davidiana tatvanensis, have been living in the mountains of eastern Turkey in Bitlis. Scientists say the new moles can survive in temperatures of up to 122 degrees Fahrenheit in summer and under 6 feet of snow in winter, noting the discovery is particularly exciting as it’s rare to find new species of mammal. The study, published in the Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society in July, was conducted by researchers from Ondokuz Mayıs university in Turkey, Indiana University and England’s University of Plymouth. “It is very rare to find new species of mammals today,” said senior author David Bilton, professor of aquatic biology at the University of Plymouth. “There are only around 6,500 mammal species that have been identified across the world and, by comparison, there are around 400,000 species of beetles known, with an estimated 1 to 2 million on Earth.” “Superficially, the new moles we have identified in this study appear similar to other species, since living underground imposes serious constraints on the evolution of body size and shape — there are a limited number of options available for moles, really,” Bilton noted. After discovering the moles, researchers used “cutting-edge DNA technology” to compare their DNA to that of other moles and found the Turkish critters are biologically distinct. The study’s authors say the new moles are “subterranean, invertebrate-eating mammals,” found across Europe and Western Asia. They said the discovery points out that just how extensive the diversity of mammals is can be misunderstood. “Our study highlights how, in such circumstances, we can underestimate the true nature of biodiversity,” Bilton said, “even in groups like mammals, where most people would assume we know all the species with which we share the planet.” The moles could have been living in the Turkish mountains for 3 million years. Scientists said it’s rare to find new mammal species. 3M-year-old animal species discovered, scientists in shock: 'Very... NYPOST.COM "Going underground" has a whole new meaning.

I know where we'll be able to find @WilliamM on Dec. 14th. Do a search here for 'Dogstar' (the name of Keanu Reeves' band) and you'll find 7 posts-- all by him. Anyhoo... I just mailed him an article from the NY Post (his favorite newspaper) about Dogstar's upcoming tour, and they're going to be in Philly on that date. Santa's coming early for little @WilliamM this year, and then little @WilliamM will probably cum early!

Man mistakenly beat down by cops in Applebees with 'baby in his arms' as real hit-and-run culprits hid in bathroom maybe @pubic_assistance sent the food police after him! (this happened in Wisconsin, by the way.)

GEE, I hope they had fire insurance! The fire broke out at 98-01 101st Ave., just after 1:30 p.m., in apartments above the office.

or I do, it seems...

Four-star hotel in Long Island City hotel being converted into shelter for economic migrants A hotel WITHIN a hotel? That's a new one...

WHO NEEDS VIAGRA?!?!? Supermarket shut down due to spider that can cause long, painful erections A supermarket in Austria shuttered this week after a venomous Brazilian wandering spider was spotted wandering in the bananas, TMZ reported, citing fears that a bite from the deadly creature can cause long-lasting, painful erections. The Penny market in Krems an der Donau — which is about 45 minutes west of Vienna, the nation’s capital — has reportedly been closed since Tuesday. The store manager allegedly rang the fire department after spotting the 4-inch black-and-red creepy crawly. Helpers sealed the store’s banana crates, but the spider is still at large, per The Mirror. The Brazilian wandering spider’s venom “stimulates” an erection that lasts for hours, according to Live Science.

maybe they're just on a permanent holiday. Rose: [while reading her phone messages] Why, oh why can't grief take a holiday? Dorothy: Oh, it does Rose, it does. Eventually, it comes to Miami like everyone else.

True. Poor @JoeMendoza is still in mourning about THE REAL.

Stocks rose and bond yields fell after US inflation data reinforced speculation the Federal Reserve will pause its interest-rate hikes in September. Read in Bloomberg: https://apple.news/AiZrT9zxaRACCRRzuJrzgng U.S. consumer prices increased moderately in July as higher rents were mostly offset by declining costs of goods such as motor vehicles and furniture, a trend that could persuade the Federal Reserve to leave interest rates unchanged next month. Read in Reuters: https://apple.news/AQtIXtgTsRGWwRGDYchsN4g

Maybe he's a descendant of Vishnu.

Unlikely friends: 2 great white sharks traveling together shock researchers Traveling long distances without a companion can get lonely − and apparently that goes even for solitary creatures like great white sharks. Scientists at the nonprofit research organization OCEARCH were surprised when they discovered two sharks they had tagged with satellite trackers in December have since traveled side by side for thousands of miles. The discovery sheds new light on everything scientists thought they knew about the apex predators, once believed to prefer only their own company, according to Bob Hueter, chief scientist at OCEARCH. "This is potentially groundbreaking," Hueter said in a video posted Sunday on the Facebook page of the Museum of Science in Boston. "We've never seen anything quite like this before." Researchers at OCEARCH first tagged the sharks, named Simon and Jekyll for the Georgia islands where they were found, in December on the southeastern coast of the United States. Since then, satellite data has shown the predators moving in tandem along the Atlantic coast for more than 4,000 miles. OCEARCH has tagged more than 400 animals since its first expedition in 2007. And while its research has yielded more than 75 published studies, team members never thought they'd discover that yes, sharks can be friendly. "Simon and Jekyll," Hueter said. "They seem to be buddies." Simon, a 9-footer weighing 434 pounds, and 8-foot-long Jekyll, who weighs 395 pounds, eventually reached Canadian waters and have most recently been tracked to the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Before the OCEARCH team tagged the sharks, Hueter said, they took samples of blood, tissue and muscle. A geneticist will analyze the samples to determine whether Simon and Jekyll are brothers or otherwise related, he said. Simon. Jekyll. Unlikely friends: 2 great white sharks traveling together shock researchers WWW.AOL.COM Great white sharks have long been thought to be solitary creatures, so scientists were surprised that two of them...

The NBC logo has also decided to relocate to Florida: An Overrun Miami Suburb Will Snip Its Peacocks (and Not in the Feathers) The birds are breeding and running amok in Pinecrest, Fla. The village will test a novel solution to rein them in: peacock vasectomies. The prevailing theory about why the peacocks flocked to suburban Pinecrest is that, like many a Floridian, they went hunting for better real estate. Long a mainstay in bohemian Coconut Grove, a Miami neighborhood up the road, the nonnative birds began making their way south in recent years, local officials suspect, because old Grove cottages were being turned into immense modern houses that chipped away at the area’s lush tree canopy. In the affluent village of Pinecrest, the peafowl found larger lots with plenty of greenery that were far more to their liking. The birds, however, were not so much to their new human neighbors’ liking. The peacocks scratched the roofs of stately homes, pecked the paint off fancy cars and defecated on manicured driveways. Their piercing squawks — “aa-AAH! aa-AAH!” — often woke residents before dawn. So Pinecrest devised a novel plan: peacock vasectomies. Snip one male peacock, the thinking goes, and it will no longer be able to fertilize the eggs of the female peahens in its harem. “Peacocks are bona fide polygamists,” said Dr. Don J. Harris, the veterinarian hired by Pinecrest to perform the procedure. “We’re going to catch one peacock and probably stop seven females from reproducing. It’s going to have an exponential benefit.” No one knows if, or how well, the Pinecrest pilot program will work. But in balmy South Florida, where people have little choice but to coexist with wildlife both native (alligators, sharks) and invasive (pythons, iguanas), it is a new way to try to deal with an old problem. “I certainly wouldn’t want to kill them — God, no,” said Gerald Greenberg, who has about seven peafowl living in an oak tree in his front yard. But, he added, “We’ve got to do something.” What makes Florida different, said Ron Magill, the communications director for Zoo Miami, is that in most other parts of the country, winter will kill off most exotic species. “When those animals get out here in South Florida, they’ve entered Club Med,” he said. “This is paradise.” Iridescent peacocks have roamed some of greater Miami’s neighborhoods for decades, with little consensus about what to do about them. To their defenders, they are majestic and beautiful. To their critics, they are an unabated nuisance. In 2001, when the peafowl population was far smaller, Miami-Dade County made killing or capturing them illegal, with an exception for homeowners to remove birds from their property without harming them. Many municipalities, including Miami, are bird sanctuaries. So over the years, when neighbors would grumble about peacocks driving them cuckoo, local officials would side with the birds. Miami, after all, is a city where chickens and roosters freely roam some streets and, since the coronavirus pandemic, have proliferated around the federal courthouse and other buildings downtown. But last year, as more communities complained about peacocks destroying property, a divided County Commission voted to allow municipal governments to submit “peafowl mitigation plans.” Pinecrest, a village of about 18,000, was the first to do so with its vasectomy plan, which county commissioners approved last month. The office of Raquel A. Regalado, the commissioner whose district includes Pinecrest, agreed to pay about $15,000 for veterinary equipment to perform the vasectomies. Pinecrest has budgeted $7,500 a month to implement the plan. Vasectomies would allow peacocks to continue acting like dominant males, displaying their dazzling feathers and assembling their harems, though they could no longer fertilize any eggs. But trapping peacocks, with their sharp beaks and talons, is not easy. And while endoscopic avian vasectomies (where the vas deferens is cut) are less complicated than full castration (where the testes are removed), surgery is still surgery. Dr. Jim Wellehan, a zoological medicine professor at the University of Florida, recalled performing endoscopic gonadectomies at a zoological institution years ago to control the mallard duck population. “Early on, there were so many challenges, and it was difficult,” he said. “But before long, we had it down.” “To be honest, the expense that goes into trap-and-release programs is really hard to justify,” he said. But people are often unwilling to just euthanize animals. Earlier this year, the euthanizing of aggressive Muscovy ducks in Palmetto Bay, south of Pinecrest, prompted so much outrage that some residents held a candlelight vigil for the deceased. No similar affectionate displays have taken place for the Pinecrest peacocks, though Shannon del Prado, the councilwoman who proposed the program, said a few people had written to say that the birds should be left alone. “‘You’re trying to eradicate the peacock,’” she said someone told her. “That’s really not the case. I have a rescue cat, but she’s fixed.” Others have reacted like David O. Markus, a 16-year Pinecrest resident who calls the peafowl a “plague.” A peacock attacked his Tesla, leaving it scratched up. (The males are thought to see their reflections in the paint, misidentify them as rivals, and peck away.) Mr. Greenberg, a lawyer, said he will sometimes be on a Zoom call and a peacock will screech. “People from other parts of the country will pause and ask me what that noise is,” he said. “I will explain that they have pigeons — and we have peacocks.” https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/09/us/peacock-vasectomies-miami-pinecrest.html

Stop & Shop Bakery Pizza Dough Whole Wheat Refrigerated (1 Rating, 5.0 stars) $2.49 16 oz pkg Bought a package yesterday. Hoping it's good.

Queens residents pay more than the U.S. average on essential household bills: report I guess when you live in the place everyone wants to be, you have to pay a premium.

Brooklyn's first supertall skyscraper reaches completion New York studio SHoP Architects has completed the black and bronze facade of the supertall skyscraper Brooklyn Tower, the tallest building in the borough. At 93 storeys and 1,066 feet, the supertall skyscraper topped out in March 2023, but the intricate cladding of its exterior was only recently completed. The skyscraper, next to Junior's, features blackened stainless panels running from the top of the tower towards the bottom, where it meets the preserved, historic Dimes Savings Bank, which has been integrated into the tower's podium. Running the length of the tower are bronze and copper pilasters that give definition to the black facade, which at certain points comes to edges, creating a staggered appearance. The building has quickly become one of, if not the most, visible structures on the Brooklyn skyline. Last year, SHoP principal Greg Pasquarelli told Dezeen in an exclusive interview that the structure, because of its special zoning, "would be kind of like the Empire State Building of Brooklyn." "We wanted to make sure that no matter what grid you were on, looking at it from wherever you were in Brooklyn, you felt like you were looking at the front," he continued. The skyscraper, which has more than 500 residences as well as retail at its base, has a wider base than many other supertalls because of the winds in Brooklyn. The larger base means that the tower tapers, drawing attention to the smaller peaks of the tower as it narrows towards the tops. The base is clad in white marble, reflecting the art deco bank, and darkens as it rises. The tower also has a number of "wind floors" throughout its length that allow heavy gusts to pass throughout without rocking the massive structure. According to New York magazine Curbed, one of the taller wind floors has been outfitted with a basketball court, the highest in the world. The tower's distinct form and colour have led some in the city to compare the building to the architecture of Sauron's Dark Fortress, a tower in Peter Jackson's filmatisation of the Lord of the Rings novels. Inside, the art deco design of the Dimes Saving Bank has been carried through many of the public spaces, including the lobby design by Krista Ninivaggi. The tower features multiple entrances, one directly from the street and another through the renovated bank, which has become a retail and pedestrian space. SHoP Architects is also responsible for the nearby Barclays Center, a stadium clad with thousands of steel panels. It has designed a number of other buildings throughout the city, including 111 W 57th Street on Billionaires Row in Manhattan, the world's skinniest supertall skyscraper.

Instructor at driving school plows through front of business's building Comments like, “Look up ‘irony’ in the dictionary, and this is what you should see,” and “just popping into the office,” were among the hundreds of responses. Even 9News Denver added to the jokes by writing, “To the employee’s credit, the school’s sign above the front door says “Learn to Drive,” and not “Learn to Park,'” in its report on the incident. Lakewood police said the employee was cited for a traffic violation.