samhexum

No speedos? ?☹?

You mean phones can be used for things other than talking to people? You really DO learn something new everyday. ? ?

My pot dealer used to bring me a box of food nearly every week that her friends had gotten from their synagogue. That lasted a little over a year, then stopped around the start of the pandemic. So... I have my last grocery delivery scheduled for Thursday (before I return to the stores, fully vaxed). Friday night my dealer calls me and asks if I'd eat frozen meals... her 98 year old neighbor gets frozen meals delivered to him by some senior service and he doesn't eat them. She just dropped off 25 meals (plus a bag of those hospital-style juice cups of OJ & AJ & four loose kiwis). If I tried hard, I'd be able to fit a few sheets of paper in the freezer now. Time to adjust that grocery order. There are a few that I like everything; most of them either the entree or one or both of the sides are good; there are only 3 that I don't know if I'll like anything, and I can always throw them out. Of course, given that these are for seniors, there's probably one grain of salt in them, so we'll see how it goes. Anybody want come chick pea stew or steamed kale?

After throwing a complete game, Max Scherzer quickly left Nats Park. His wife was in labor. I wonder what color(s) the kid's eyes will be.

Callie Fornia, Ari Zona, Dakota North, Dakota South, Utah Haagen (or her married name, Utah Haagen-Dazs) Di Areeya

Why wait? It doesn't look pretty now.

Human-sized sturgeon caught in Detroit River A US Fish and Wildlife Service crew got the shock of their lives when, while on patrol on the Detroit River, they reeled in a nearly 6-foot-10, 240-pound sturgeon, likely over 100 years old. The fish, believed to be one of the largest ever caught in the United States, was found near Grosse Ile. The crew tagged and released it back into the river. “We’re trying to protect this fishery,” Justin Chiotti, a US Fish and Wildlife Service biologist told The Detroit Free Press. “Everybody is always catching a huge sturgeon. Everybody catches a 100-pounder. But a fish this size is very, very rare to catch.” The scientists estimated to the paper that the fish hatched in the Detroit River sometime in the 1920s when Detroit was the fourth-largest city in America. But, they added, that’s a conservative guess. It likely is even older.

Long Island man dodges eviction for 20 years, living in house he doesn’t own A Long Island man who only ever made one mortgage payment has deftly used the courts to stay in the house for 23 years — for free, according to legal papers. Guramrit Hanspal, 52, has filed four lawsuits and claimed bankruptcy seven times to avoid being booted from the 2,081-square-foot East Meadow home he “bought” for $290,000 in 1998. So far, it’s worked: two different banks and a real estate company have owned the three-bedroom, 2.5-bath home since Hanspal was foreclosed upon in 2000. But Hanspal remains. Hanspal’s not the only occupant of the home leveraging the U.S. Bankruptcy Code’s “automatic stay” rules, which give debtors a temporary reprieve from all collection efforts, harassment, and foreclosures. At least three other people listing the home at 2468 Kenmore St. as their address have also filed for bankruptcy in Brooklyn Federal Court, winning the “automatic stay,” only to have the claims eventually dismissed, court records show. “It’s really a group of people that are more than willing to use the courts and abuse the courts to whatever extent they need to extend their illegal occupancy,” said attorney Jordan Katz, who reps current property owner Diamond Ridge Partners. Hanspal’s history of litigation “is incredibly long and sordid,” said Katz, who added that while he’s seen occupants staying in foreclosed homes before, “nothing even approaches the length of this one.” “He’s not legally occupying that property,” Katz said. “It’s an outrage.” And a good deal: Hanspal, who had an initial 7.375 percent interest rate on the $232,000 adjustable-rate mortgage, likely saved himself upwards of $440,000 by not paying his bills. Hanspal got the mortgage from Washington Mutual in 1998 and made exactly one payment — $1,602.37, — before defaulting, prompting the bank to begin foreclosure proceedings a year later, court records show. By May 2000, Washington Mutual successfully foreclosed on the home, and Hanspal was “forever barred” from any claim to the property, according to the judgment of foreclosure. But Hanspal never left. By January 2001, he filed his first bankruptcy claim, records show. He went on to file another in November 2001, two in 2002, and one in 2003. If bankruptcy filings didn’t work, Hanspal simply went to state court seeking relief, sometimes acting as his own attorney, according to an August 2005 order from Nassau County Judge Burton S. Joseph. Meanwhile, in 2004, Hanspal transferred the deed of the home to a friend, Rajender Pal, even though he had no legal right to do so, according to court papers. Pal, using the Kenmore Street address, filed for bankruptcy in 2005, staving off eviction yet again. “Mr. Hanspel and Mr. Pal’s apparent frivolous conduct in using the Court system and the Bankruptcy proceeding as a sword to get out of a lawful debt, rather than a shield, is most disconcerting to this Court,” Joseph wrote in 2005, threatening sanctions. By 2008, Washington Mutual had gone under, marking one of the largest bank collapses in American history, with its assets eventually taken over by JP Morgan Chase. The new bank was also unable to boot Hanspal, and has been locked in litigation with him for years, with Hanspal filing at least three lawsuits against JP Morgan Chase in Nassau Supreme Court. The two sides are also in an ongoing legal battle in Brooklyn Federal Court. Hanspal claims in court papers that Chase committed “blatant fraud” in 2010 by trying to evict him when it didn’t have proper title to the home, and accused the bank of withholding “surplus” funds from a previous auction of the property. Chase slammed Hanspal for “clogging the court docket” with “patently frivolous” claims. By May 2018, Chase unloaded the property to Diamond Ridge, which offered Hanspal $20,000 to leave. He didn’t take the deal, and instead, filed for bankruptcy again in 2019 and 2020. Another purported occupant of the house, Boss Chawla, filed bankruptcy four times in 2019, as did another resident — allegedly named John Smith — who filed once. “There always seems to be a new occupant who pops up at the last moment,” said Diamond Ridge attorney Katz. “They never show up in court.” At least one judge thinks it’s time for Hanspal to go. “The history of this case going on for approximately 20 years must come to an end,” Nassau District Court Judge Scott Fairgrieve wrote in a December 2019 housing court proceeding. Diamond Ridge has spent $150,000 on legal fees and paid $50,000 in property taxes since purchasing the home, said member Max Sold, who added, “as of this writing [we] still have no known end in sight.” The pandemic may give Hanspal yet another reprieve, noted Katz, who said the COVID-19 backlog in New York’s housing courts has kept them from pursuing their eviction effort. Hanspal did not return messages. A woman who answered the bell at Kenmore Street and identified herself as a tenant said Hanspal was not at the home, which featured at least three cars without license plates in the driveway.

Got my 2nd shot today, so I can go back into supermarkets 5/14... I placed (hopefully) my last delivery order yesterday for delivery next Thurs (5/6). With Peapod (Stop&Shop's delivery service) you earn $1 grocery dollar for every $100 you spend. For my last delivery, I had $4 or $5 in credits. When I tried to add them to my order I got a ‘can’t process now, try later’ message 3 times. When I checked later, they’d given me $15 off my order. I earned another dollar with that order, but when I began loading the cart for the new order yesterday, it again gave me $15 off, then another $1 off when I applied the grocery dollar I’d earned.

https://www.brownstoner.com/real-estate-market/clinton-hill-brooklyn-historic-homes-pfizer-mansion-280-washington-avenue-enter-contract/ After Years on market, Remarkable Pfizer Mansion Enters contract

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April 2 The White Sox's Yermin Mercedes went 5-for-5 and teammate Yoan Moncada went 0-for-5 with five strikeouts. The only other time since 1900 that teammates had done that was June 4, 2009, when Toronto's Adam Lind went 5-for-5 and Alex Rios went 0-for-5 with five strikeouts. Moncada missed by one game of joining ex-White Sox catcher Ron Karkovice as the only players to go 0-for-5 with five K's on Opening Day. April 3 The Dodgers' Zach McKinstry hit his first career home run, and it was an inside-the-park homer. In 1992, the first career homer by Butch Henry, a pitcher, was an inside-the-park homer for the Astros. It was the only home run of his career. McKinstry hit his second career homer on April 11. It went over the fence. Marlins reliever Zach Pop made his major league debut, pitching a scoreless sixth inning. His second baseman in that game was Jazz Chisholm, marking the first time that Jazz and Pop have appeared in the same game in major league history. April 4 The White Sox's batting order included three straight hitters with first names beginning with Y: Yoan Moncada, Yasmani Grandal, Yermin Mercedes. That was a first by any team since 1900. A's rookie outfielder Ka'ai Tom pitched in his team's fourth game of the year. Tom pitched a scoreless inning against the Astros, but he gave up a hit, meaning a position player gave up a hit before he got a hit in his major league career. Tom was 0-for-5 career at the time that he pitched. The only position player we could find after 1950 that did that was Red Sox catcher Dusty Brown, who in 2009 was 0-for-1 in his career when he pitched an inning on Oct. 3. Music and baseball connected in Philadelphia. The Braves started Ian Anderson, who has the same name as the lead singer of the band Jethro Tull. They also used reliever Chris Martin, who is the lead singer of Coldplay. April 5 The Tigers' Robbie Grossman became the first player since 1900 to draw eight walks and have no hits in the first four games of the season. Over the past 50 years, the only player to get more than eight walks before getting his first hit of the season was the Orioles' DJ Stewart, who had nine in 2020. April 6 Phillies reliever Vince Velasquez walked four, struck out four, gave up four earned runs and didn't allow a hit in 1⅓ innings against the Mets. That pitching line had never been accomplished by any pitcher since 1900: 1⅓-0-4-4-4-4. April 10 Angels shortstop Jose Iglesias made three errors (only the second time in his career that he made multiple errors in a game), struck out twice and grounded into a double play against the Blue Jays. Since GIDPs became official in both leagues in 1940, he became the seventh player to do that, and second (joining Seattle's Dylan Moore) in the past 16 years. April 11 Ten days into the season, an individual player had struck out four times in a game 16 times. In every season in the modern era (1900-on) prior to 1957, there were fewer than 17 individual four-strikeout games in the entire season, including 12 in 1955. April 12 Royals reliever Carlos Hernandez faced three hitters, walked them all, but threw only 11 pitches. That's because his first walk was intentional, so it didn't add to his pitch count. April 13 The umpiring crew in Baltimore was Ryan Blakney, Ryan Additon, Brian O'Nora and Ryan Wills. Ryan, Ryan, Ryan and Brian. By one batter, we missed Seattle's Ty France facing the Orioles' Paul Fry, depriving us of the first France-Fry at-bat in major league history. The Mets became the first team ever to start a pitcher (Marcus Stroman) wearing uniform No. 0 in the first game of a doubleheader and start a pitcher (Taijuan Walker) wearing No. 99 in the second game of a doubleheader. April 14 The White Sox's Carlos Rodon became the third pitcher to lose a perfect game in the ninth inning or later on a hit batter but still end up with a no-hitter. Max Scherzer did it in 2015 for the Nationals, and in 1908, the Giants' Hooks Wiltse (he had a brother named Snake) lost his perfect game in the 10th inning when he hit the opposing pitcher, George McQuillan. April 16 In the 12th inning against the Padres, Dodgers pitcher David Price hit a sacrifice fly, the second RBI of his career (50 at-bats). The ball was caught by pitcher Joe Musgrove, who had thrown a no-hitter seven days earlier. Musgrove had to play left field when second baseman Jake Cronenworth was brought in to pitch. It marked the first time that a pitcher hit a ball to a position-playing pitcher since Sept. 30, 1984, when Shane Rawley flied out to left fielder Don Robinson in the third inning. It was the last game of the season, and Robinson, a good-hitting pitcher, started in left field. April 19 Albert Pujols, one of the greatest hitters of all time, grounded into a double play for the 400th time. Second on the all-time list is Cal Ripken with 350. White Sox DH Yermin Mercedes pitched against the Red Sox. It was the first time he had ever played a defensive position in his brief major league career (then 15 games). He became the first position player to make his debut in the field as a pitcher since Kerby Farrell of the 1943 Braves. April 20 The Red Sox became the first team ever to win nine in a row following an 0-3 start. Then the A's topped that by becoming the first team ever to win 10 games in a row (they won 13 straight) at any point in a season in which it started out 0-6. April 23 Royals pitcher Mike Minor is always good for a Quirkjian. His latest, on this day, might not have been on the level of his pitching matchups -- Minor-Leake, Minor-Sale, Minor-Fiers and Cole-Minor. But Minor faced the Tigers' Zack Short, the first Minor-Short at-bat in history. April 24 It took until this day before the Marlins made an error on the left side of the infield. At that time, the Padres had 13 errors from their left side. Astros pitcher Kent Emanuel pitched 8⅔ innings in relief in his major league debut. That was the longest relief outing in a pitcher's debut since John Montefusco went nine innings in 1974. And the pitcher Emanuel replaced in the game, Jake Odorizzi, has 62 career victories and has made 195 major league starts, and the longest start of his career was eight innings. April 25 Reds pitcher Jose Castillo gave up three runs in the first inning, making it 14 runs (11 earned) that he has allowed in the first inning. To that point, 23 teams hadn't scored that many runs in the first inning all season, including the Yankees, who had scored one run in the first inning. The Twins had allowed only two runs in the first inning but were 7-13 for the season. April 26 Twins rookie outfielder Alex Kirilloff had played in the postseason last year before he made his regular-season debut this season. And he got a hit. But it wasn't technically his first major league hit because it didn't come in a regular-season game. So he was still looking for his first official major league hit. He got off to an 0-for-15 start but finally got a hit on this day.

Is she any relation to Mare of Winningham?

NYC mansion with abandoned renovation relists for $25M An Upper West Side mansion is back on the market for $25 million — the same price it asked in 2019. The landmarked property, at 3 Riverside Drive, was once owned by broker and developer Regina Kislin, the daughter of Sam Kislin — a Ukrainian-born metals trader. The elder Kislin, a former member of the New York City Economic Development Board, also has decades-long ties to Rudy Giuliani, Donald Trump, and one of Trump’s late partners, Soviet-born billionaire Tamir Sapir. The younger Kislin bought the spread for less than $10 million in 1995. In 2017, the residence was bought at auction for $15.8 million — a dramatic drop from its original $40 million asking price in 2012. At 37 feet wide, the mansion is almost double the size of most townhouses. Built in 1899 by Charles Pierrepont Henry Gilbert in a French Renaissance Revival style, it features elaborate gargoyles and cherubs carved into its facade. Inside, however, the scene is less picturesque. The seller was part-way through a major renovation when he abandoned plans. But the mansion does come with “approved” plans by Italian architect Achille Salvagni for over-the-top details such as a “half-Olympic-sized” marble pool, a stadium-seating movie theater, a rooftop terrace, radiant heating throughout, an onyx-walled hot tub and bulletproof windows for the lower front of the house. The home, with some 19,000 square feet of space, also comes with approved plans for nine bedrooms and 11 bathrooms. It looks out to Riverside Park, the Hudson River and gets good natural light, according to the marketing materials.

https://nypost.com/2021/04/27/inside-abandoned-disney-like-village-made-of-empty-castles/ Haunting photos reveal hundreds of abandoned castles left to rot in Turkey Is this the creepiest place on Earth? Hundreds of Disney-like castles built for wealthy Gulf investors are now sitting empty. The haunting images are making the rounds online as developers struggle to revive the decrepit neighborhood — now the stuff of nightmares. Located in Turkey, the abandoned village first began construction in 2014, and was initially designed as a luxury community for foreign buyers. Known as the Burj Al Babas project, the village — located on the base of Turkey’s northwestern mountains — appears to be a diorama of miniature villas. The residences all look the same, with bluish-gray steeples and Gothic fixtures, calling to mind the castles in Disney films and theme parks. But hit by a devastating economic downturn in Turkey, the once-grand plan crumbled, leaving the mini chateaus hollow. They now join the ranks of the world’s creepiest abandoned dwellings. Its developers, the Sarot Group, failed to come up with the required amount of money to finish the project and sought bankruptcy protection in 2019, despite money that was left from the $200 million budget. The developers had intended to use the region’s hot springs to heat each home, claiming that the water had healing properties. “You can drink the waters, and it cures stomach ailments and kidney stones,” the Sarot Group’s CEO, Mezher Yerdelen, told the New York Times in a 2019 interview. “If you bathe in it, it heals skin problems, rheumatism, and slipped disks.” Homeowners also would’ve had the option to choose from three different layouts. The villas were designed to feature a jacuzzi on each level, and residents had the option to install an elevator and indoor pool. Buyers snapped up more than 350 of the houses, which are priced between $370,000 and $500,000, depending on location, Yerdelen told the Times. Of the more than 732 villas, about 350 were sold to Arab investors. By 2018, half the buildings were underway until Turkey’s economy took a major hit and many of the sales fell through. In October 2018, Turkey’s inflation rate reached 25% — the highest it had been in 15 years, largely influenced by the decline of the nation’s currency, the lira. “Our sales dried up,” Mezher Yerdelen added. Some customers canceled their agreements, some stopped their payments. Today, the village remains idle, with no plumbing, heating or any sign of human life. Thomas Brag of Yes Theory documented his experience exploring the village last month. “A lot of these unfinished abandoned projects, it always looks like they left halfway through a workday… like you still see some boots on the ground, and gloves, and construction equipment,” Brag . “There is still raw materials here that are valuable and that’s always the strangest part about going to half-finished construction abandoned places,” Brag added. “[i’m] thinking about what it must be like to be a construction worker here when they were doing this and then being told to just stop what you’re doing and then you just never really found out what happened to it.”

DEAR ABBY: I'd like advice on how to handle a problem that crops up every time family members invite me out to a dinner they are paying for. I know the rule of etiquette is to order an item that's the same or less than what the host is ordering, but I am often asked to order first. This means I have no idea what the payer's meal will cost. If it means ordering something on the menu other than what I'd rather have -- a burger instead of a steak -- in that case, should I offer to pay for my own meal? What if they won't hear of taking any money from me? Can I still order the steak since my offer to pay was refused? -- LIKES TO FOLLOW THE RULES DEAR LIKES: A way to get around ordering first might be to say, "I haven't decided yet. I'd like to hear what the others are ordering." However, if you would be uncomfortable doing that, and your hosts won't let you have a separate check, be a gracious guest and enjoy every bite of your steak dinner. "Lets all go a to a vegan place," and that way you know NOBODY will be ordering anything.

Where do you feel that tingly feeling you feel when you poo?