samhexum

The Marlins have made a groundbreaking hire, as the team announced that Kim Ng will be the team’s new general manager. MLB Network’s Jon Heyman (Twitter link) was the first to report the news that Ng will join the Marlins, making her the first Asian-American GM in Major League Baseball history and the first woman to ever act as a GM for a men’s team in any of the major North American sports. Today’s news is the culmination of a baseball career that began almost 30 years ago, when Ng was hired as an intern in the White Sox front office. Like many other Marlins hires, Ng has a connection to Derek Jeter, as she worked as an assistant GM with the Yankees from 1998-2001. Ng then moved on to an assistant GM job with the Dodgers until 2011, and she has since worked for Major League Baseball as the league’s senior vice president for baseball operations. Ng’s name has long been floated in past GM searches, as she was previously a candidate for openings with the Orioles, Giants and Mets as recently as 2018, as well as past vacancies with the Dodgers, Phillies, Diamondbacks, Angels, Mariners, and Padres. These interviews created some anticipation that Ng would eventually be the first woman put in charge of an MLB front office, though after all the years and all the close calls, it was the Marlins who made the breakthrough decision. The 51-year-old Ng will now oversee a promising young team that is coming off both its first playoff berth since 2003 and its first winning season since 2010. While the Marlins’ 31-29 record in a shortened season isn’t quite yet indicative that Miami has wholly turned the corner after another rebuild, Jeter and owner Bruce Sherman appear to have gotten the franchise on the right track since taking over in 2017.

I had to really push myself to get through the first year. I actually enjoyed it, but really disliked Toby (too damned earnest) and Kevin (too damned insipid) and William's death took WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY too long. I recorded the first half of the second season, never could make myself start it, and eventually deleted it. I do recall Onorati being in it a bit that first year, now that you mention it. And I've never been able to trust Ventimiglia since he lied about his stepfather raping him on SVU.

The second episode was awful, plus I’m bummed that Marjorie won’t be seeing Peter Onorati again, as she did in an episode last year.

The GREY’S ANATOMY season premiere was really good. It picked up in April, when the hospital was overrun with Covid. The performances and the depiction of the doctors’ struggles were top-notch. Plus, we got an unexpected Schmico situation and a legitimate surprise at the end. Schmico broke up last year because Nico couldn’t give Schmidt the emotional intimacy he wanted. I thought that would be the last we’d see of him (he got a sweet new job that led to the break up), but he was there working in the hospital tonight (no explanation why) and they had a couple of awkward scenes, including one in which Schmidt told him he’d just had to tell his 100th person that their loved one had died, which was ten times more than he’d had to in his whole career before Covid, and he didn’t know how much longer he could do this, and just wanted to know if Nico was okay, because he wasn't. Nico gave him an uncomfortable look and said he was fine and walked away. Near the end, Schmidt was looking for something in a supply closet and Nico walked in. Schmidt told him whatever he was looking for, he probably wouldn't find it in there. Nico told him he'd been a terrible boyfriend and he was sorry he couldn’t give Schmidt what he had needed emotionally, but he sensed earlier that Schmidt needed some stress relief, and at least he could give him that… Stress relief? Stress relief. Can I can keep my mask on? That’s not what I want to take off. (as he sinks out of the picture & Schmidt’s eyes roll back.) As for the surprise ending... (SPOILER ALERT) Patrick Dempsey left the show on rather frosty terms six years ago and his character was killed off. The episode started with Meredith on the beach, staring at the ocean, and at the end one of the doctors found her passed out in the parking lot, and then she was back on the beach, and off in the distance she saw… guess who? Definitely new footage, and he’ll be in next week’s episode, too.

But officer, I was just speeding so I could get to Claire McCaskill so I could kill her... A Utah man was busted for allegedly leading cops on a high-speed chase while drunk and high on drugs, claiming he was en route to kill former Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill, police said. George William Stahl, 36, was busted early Wednesday in Summit County, where a Utah Highway Patrol trooper clocked him doing 115 mph on I-80, according to the Deseret News. When the trooper attempted to pull Stahl over, the driver booked it, going at least 130 mph as light snow fell, a police affidavit said. The chase came to a halt when another trooper used tire spikes to stop Stahl. The affidavit noted that Stahl, of Cottonwood Heights, was “belligerent and appeared heavily intoxicated” and reeked of alcohol. “There was an empty 12 pack of Budweiser beer in his vehicle as well as a partially consumed other 12 pack. Stahl stated that he was on Adderall and LSD and beer,” the document said.[/url] He allegedly told police he was “on his way to Missouri to kill (former US Sen. Claire McCaskill) if she wasn’t dead already,” according to the affidavit. “Stahl made several real threats to Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill,” it said. “He stated that he was on his way to Missouri to kill her several times.” He also allegedly told cops that he hit the spikes at 135 mph. Stahl was taken to the North Summit Fire Station for a medical evaluation before he was booked into the Summit Count Jail. He was charged with making a threat of terrorism, failing to stop at the command of police, reckless driving, speeding, DUI and drug possession. McCaskill, a Democrat, served as a Missouri senator from 2007 to 2019 before losing her seat to Republican contender Josh Hawley, the state’s attorney general at the time. On Wednesday, McCaskill congratulated Hawley on the recent birth of his daughter.

ShopRite by me has stopped allowing the sampling of grapes.

Can I help it if you're all perverts whose minds are in the gutter? :eek::cool:?

The unfortunately named great tit has joined a long list of species that could soon disappear due to Earth’s rapidly warming climate. “If the changes happen too fast, species can become extinct,” said Emily Simmonds, an associate professor at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology’s department of biology. She authored an article in the journal Ecology Letters detailing how the food supply of the great tit — a colorful songbird endemic to Europe and Asia — and other bird species can be impacted by a premature season shift caused by rising temperatures. Simmonds argued that warmer winters and resultant early springs prompt plants to leaf earlier, causing tree-eating larvae to hatch ahead of time, Science Daily reported. This can prove problematic to birds like the great tit that depend on the spring bug bounty when they’re babies. “When the climate changes, the interactions between different species changes [sic], too,” explained Simmonds. Fortunately, some populations of great tits have learned to adapt to the untimely spring by simply hatching earlier — proving that the early bird does indeed get the worm. This behavior, in turn, could potentially be passed on to future generations. However, after analyzing statistical models and different climate scenarios, researchers deduced that the songbirds wouldn’t be able to evolve in tandem with their prey forever. “The larvae might be changing even faster than the great tits,” said Simmonds, who chalked up the evolutionary discrepancy to the “big greenhouse gas emissions.” The report added, “We might reach a kind of threshold where the great tits aren’t keeping up. The rubber band gets stretched too far, you could say.” In the worst-case scenario, researchers suggested, larvae hatched approximately 24 days earlier than the 2020 norm would cause the whole population of great tits to vanish by the year 2100 due to lack of food. Fortunately, Simmonds said, “populations will be able to survive scenarios with lower or medium warming trends.” Great tits aren’t the only fine-feathered friends feeling the heat from climate change. According to a report by Audobon, nearly two-thirds of America’s breeding avian species face extinction due to the global temperature spike. More alarmingly, scientists speculate that global warming could wipe out one-third of all animal and plant life by 2070.

Two Amish brothers in Missouri admitted having sex with their 12-year-old sister and getting her pregnant — but managed to avoid jail time because a prosecutor feared they’d “be eaten alive” in prison. Yeah, so what? The abuse came to light after a doctor alerted authorities that the girl was pregnant just after she turned 13 — and she said that four of her brothers, two of them also minors, had been having sex with her. The family that lays together stays together? The eldest two — Aaron Schwartz, 22, and 18-year-old brother Petie — D'ya think the others are named Bernie and Sherwood? admitted to police that they had sex with her at least half a dozen times each at home in Seymour, starting when she was only 12. The sister ended up giving birth just two weeks ago — and “one of the brothers is the father of this child,” Webster County Prosecutor Ben Berkstresser said. Ooh! A cliff-hanger! The brothers were initially both charged with six counts of statutory rape and one count of incest. But those charges were reduced to third-degree child molestation, a Class C felony. They then reached a plea deal last week for 15 years in prison — but suspended to keep them out of jail. The prosecutor insisted it was a “different relationship” than if a “parent in a position of authority sexually abused or exploited their child,” and said the convicts were “very immature.” “These two young men would’ve been eaten alive in the state prison system,” Berkstresser said in defending his decision. He also said that the Amish community “had punished all four of the boys” and “made it clear that this punishment was very severe.” “All of them had sexual relations with their sister,” the prosecutor said of the four brothers. “There is no question this occurred,” he said. It was not immediately clear if any action was taken against the two brothers who are minors, and it was not clear how old they are. The convicted brothers must complete the Missouri Sex Offender Treatment Program as well as 100 hours of community service — and write a letter as part of their punishment. “Both young men must write a letter to me, explaining how they are going to protect their children from this happening to them,” Berkstresser said. “They have 30 days to get this letter to me.” And if their penmanship isn't impeccable, they'll get 40 lashes with a wet noodle! The prosecutor accepted that his decision would likely receive harsh backlash. “Previously, I’ve been very harsh on the Amish when they’ve been charged with crimes of this nature,” he insisted to the paper. He said the brothers “will go to prison” if they do not complete a sex offender treatment program within a year. “This won’t be easy for either of them to do, but I’ll assure you they will face the consequences if the program isn’t completed,” the prosecutor said. “And that consequence will be prison.” Opinions? Comments?

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So do many of us; that's what makes it so annoying. I saw a bunch of people like that at BJs Warehouse Club the other day.

The intrigue builds...

DEAR ABBY: We are approaching the time of year when many people struggle with how to divide time between families during the holidays. This is often made harder when there has been divorce and remarriage within a family, especially when children are involved. This was the case in our family. Planning dinners and celebrations became far easier once I realized that holidays are not just arbitrary dates on a calendar, but a spirit of heart and mind. I let everyone else plan their events, and then choose a day that as many people as possible are available. I host an event on that day -- a week earlier, a week (or month) later -- it doesn't matter. What does matter is that we gather in love and friendship and have a wonderful time. As a result, even my former daughters-in-law readily join in with their new spouses and children and we have a ball! We get to blend together four generations, and our youngest generation is richer for the experience. We joke about having "in-law" and "out-law" tables. I'll be honest, it took work. The adults had to agree to act like adults, but I'm proud that everyone looks forward to coming to our holiday celebrations whenever they are held. My advice to your readers: Forget the calendar and remember the reason for the gathering! -- FOUND HOLIDAY SPIRIT DEAR FOUND: I love your attitude, and couldn't stop smiling after reading your letter. Thank you so much for writing. I hope it will open the minds and hearts of other readers.

Well, then... no soup for you! At various times, each of the four characters got on my nerves.

For $200: What famous game show host died today at age 80? “Jeopardy is saddened to share that Alex Trebek passed away peacefully at home early this morning, surrounded by family and friends,” the show said in a statement to TMZ. Trebek, who hosted “Jeopardy!” for 36 years, announced he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in March 2019. “I’m going to fight this and I’m going to keep working and with the love and support from my family and friends and with the help of your prayers,” he vowed in a video released at the time. “I plan to beat the low survival rate statistics for this disease. Truth told, I have to because under the terms of my contract, I have to host ‘Jeopardy!’ for three more years, so help me. Keep the faith and we will win. We will get it done.” Trebek powered through his diagnosis to host the iconic game show — most recently returning to set for the 2021-22 season. George Alexander Trebek was born on July 22, 1940 in Sudbury, Ontario in Canada to Lucille and George Trebek. His father was a chef at a hotel and his mother was a stay-at-home mom. He had one younger sister, Barbara, who passed away in 2007 after battling breast cancer. “My dad got along with everybody,” Trebek said in an interview with the Television Academy in 2007. “He was everybody’s best friend. He also enjoyed drinking with everybody. Mom didn’t drink, doesn’t drink. Didn’t smoke, doesn’t smoke … she got along with people also and to a certain extent I guess I picked up on that from them. At least, I hope I did.” Trebek moved to Ottawa when he was 12 years old for boarding school and then stayed there for college, attending University of Ottawa in the late ’50s, where he majored in philosophy. He first got into broadcasting in college when he took a summer job to help him pay for school. The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation then offered him a full-time position, which he took while finishing his education. In 1963, Trebek moved to Toronto, where he hosted a live teen music show called “Music Hop,” and beginning in 1966, Trebek moved into the game show sphere when he hosted a Canadian academic quiz show called “Reach for the Top.” Just like “Celebrity Jeopardy,” “Reach for the Top” in which Eugene Levy portrayed a quiz show host named “Alex Trebel.” “Eugene Levy to this day did the best Alex Trebek ever,” Trebek said in a 2007 interview, adding, “Better than Will Ferrell.” When asked what he thinks of parodies of him he said, “I love them. It means you’ve arrived.” In the 1970s, Trebek made his move to the United States where, with the help of Alan Thicke, he became the host of the short-lived NBC game show “The Wizard of Odds.” His girlfriend at the time, Elaine Callei, came to the US with him and the pair tied the knot in 1974. They were married for seven years before divorcing in 1981. By 1998, Trebek became a naturalized US citizen. Trebek hosted shows including “High Rollers,” CBS’ “Double Dare,” “$128,000 Question” and “Pitfall” before he landed the role that would define his legacy. In 1984, Trebek was tapped to host a reboot of Merv Griffin’s quiz show “Jeopardy!” The original show aired on NBC from 1964-1975 and featured Art Fleming as its host. It was picked up again with Fleming from 1978-79 before the current version with Trebek premiered on Sept. 10, 1984. Trebek has won five Daytime Emmy Awards for hosting “Jeopardy!” and in 2011, the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences honored him with the Lifetime Achievement Award. As of 2014, Trebek held a Guinness World Record for “the most game show episodes hosted by the same presenter.” Trebek has also been inducted into the Broadcasting & Cable Hall of Fame, the National Association of Broadcasters Broadcasting Hall of Fame and has won a Peabody Award. In his interview with the Television Academy, he said he wanted to be remembered “as a decent guy who did his best to help the contestants perform at their best because that’s really what a host is supposed to do. You are there to make these players relax enough that they can demonstrate their skills because they’re the stars of the show. They’re the ones the viewers are interested in seeing … so lay back, put the emphasis on the players and if you do that properly, the viewers will look on you as a good guy … and if that’s the way they remember me down the line, perfectly happy with that.” Throughout his career, Trebek has appeared as himself on many TV shows including, “Cheers,” “The Golden Girls,” “The Larry Sanders Show,” “The Nanny,” “Seinfeld,” “Baywatch,” “How I Met Your Mother,” “Family Guy” and “Orange Is the New Black.” During his time on “Jeopardy!”, he has also gone on tour with the USO 13 times to support the troops and their families. Trebek hosted the National Geographic Bee for 25 years. Trebek wed Jean Currivan in 1990 and was married to her up until his death. In January 2019, he told People he wish he’d met her sooner, so they could have had a longer life together. The couple had two kids together, Emily, who works in real estate, and Matthew, who owns two restaurants, Oso and Lucille’s, in Harlem. “When I was little, going to work with my dad was one of my favorite things to do,” Emily said in 2016. “One morning, I drew him this ‘World’s Greatest Dad’ sign. He’s kept it on the front of his office door ever since, even 18 years later. I’m so proud to be his daughter.” Although the future of “Jeopardy!” is still up in the air, Trebek has previously offered his opinion on who should replace him as host, throwing out names including CNN’s Laura Coates, LA Kings announcer Alex Faust and TCM’s Ben Mankiewicz. In 2018, he said in an interview that he won’t have a say in who replaces him but, “It should, and will, go on after I’m done.” Following Trebek’s cancer announcement in March 2019, Jeopardy record-holder Ken Jennings, wrote an ode to the host for the New York Times, explaining he’s not the “stern, judicial presence you might expect.” “When the cameras stop rolling, Alex is a looser, even goofy presence,” Jennings wrote. “He still has the slight testiness, the dry imitation hauteur you can see when he spars with contestants in the interviews, but he’s gracious and candid and self-deprecating.” Jennings added, ”[Johnny] Carson and [Walter] Cronkite are long gone, but Alex Trebek remains, the last of the old-school broadcasters who once visited us every night as a matter of ritual.” In his 2020 memoir, “The Answer Is…”, Trebek wrote, “My life has been a quest for knowledge and understanding, and I’m nowhere near having achieved that,” he wrote. “And it doesn’t bother me in the least. I will die without having coming up with the answer to many things in life.” He went on to explain that he wanted to enjoy the time he has left by going out, but the coronavirus pandemic was restricting him from leaving the house, but that sitting on the swing out in the yard — his favorite spot — would be just as nice. “I’ll be perfectly content if that’s how my story ends: sitting on the swing with the woman I love, my soul mate, and our two wonderful children nearby.”

Grocery chains again limiting toilet paper, sanitizing wipes purchases It’s like springtime all over again amid the spiking coronavirus pandemic as shoppers try to flush out large supplies of toilet paper, paper towels and disinfecting wipes, according to a report. Several leading grocery chains are reimposing purchasing limits to prevent would-be hoarders from wiping them clean of the essentials, CNN reported. At Kroger, customers can buy a maximum of two such items, according to a spokesperson who told the network that the limits, which began this week, apply in stores and online. Meanwhile, Christopher Brand, a rep for the Northeast chain Giant, said the company was “seeing little evidence of stockpiling, and there is no need to create panic.” But since the supply chain “remains challenged,” Giant has set a limit of one on purchases of larger TP and paper towel sizes and four on smaller sizes, according to CNN. The San Antonio-based H-E-B, which has more than 340 stores across Texas, has recently implemented similar policies, including limits of two on purchases of disinfecting and antibacterial sprays, while other stores have limited toilet paper and paper towel purchases to two. About 19 percent of paper products and 16 percent of household cleaning products were out of stock during the week ending Nov. 1, according to market research company IRI. Nearly 60 percent of shoppers say they plan to stock up on the products again as winter approaches, according to a recent survey by market research firm Inmar Intelligence. The restrictions come as the US reported its highest number of new infections Thursday — at least 108,174, according to Johns Hopkins University. The US has recorded 9.6 million confirmed cases of the disease and more than 235,000 deaths.

And she says the nicest things about YOU!

Baltimore city isn't part of Baltimore county. Baltimore County is the third-most populous county located in the U.S. state of Maryland and is part of the Baltimore metropolitan area and Baltimore-Washington metropolitan area (a combined statistical area). Baltimore (/ˈbɔːltɪmɔːr/ BAWL-tim-or, locally: /ˈbɔːlmər/) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, as well as the 30th most populous city in the United States, with a population of 593,490 in 2019. Baltimore is the largest independent city in the country and was designated as such by the Constitution of Maryland in 1851. In the United States, an independent city is a city that is not in the territory of any county or counties, with certain exceptions. Independent cities are classified by the United States Census Bureau as "county equivalents", and may also have similar governmental powers as a consolidated city-county. However in the case of a consolidated city-county, a city and a county were merged into a unified jurisdiction in which the county at least nominally exists to this day, whereas an independent city was legally separated from any county or merged with a county that simultaneously ceased to exist even in name.