samhexum

Dinosaur species may have traveled across an ocean, study says A new study published in the Cretaceous Research journal indicates a species of duckbill dinosaur called Ajnabia odysseus — whose bones were found in Africa — may have traveled across the ocean to get there. Scientists say the new species contains features of the Lambeosaurinae family, which moved from Asia to Europe before ending up in Africa. “Given the existence of large, persistent seaways isolating Africa and Europe from other continents, and the absence of the extensive, bidirectional interchange characterizing land bridges, these patterns suggest dispersals across marine barriers,” reads an excerpt from the study, which became available earlier this week. The researchers believe it’s possible the dinosaurs made the lengthy voyage from one continent to another by swimming, floating or traveling on debris, CNN reports. “Sherlock Holmes said, once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth,” said the leader of the study, Nicholas Longrich, according to CNN. “It was impossible to walk to Africa," he continued. "These dinosaurs evolved long after continental drift split the continents, and we have no evidence of land bridges. The geology tells us Africa was isolated by oceans. If so, the only way to get there is by water.” Hadrosaurid or duck-billed dinosaur skeleton displayed at Venetian Resort Hotel Casino.

Talk about a relationship made in 80s heaven. Patrick Duffy, best known as good brother Bobby Ewing in “Dallas,” has fallen madly in love with “Happy Days” actress Linda Purl. “I’m in an incredibly happy relationship,” he recently gushed to People. “I never thought for a minute this would happen again. I never thought I’d feel this way again.” The 71-year-old actor was married for more than forty years to ballet dancer Carlyn Rosser, who died of cancer in 2017. “My wife and I, in 48 years we were always together,” said Duffy, who shared sons Padraic, 46, and Conor, 40, with Rosser. Purl, 65, has been married four times. Her first marriage was to Desi Arnaz, Jr., and she has one son from her third marriage. The grandfather of four was getting accustomed to his life as a widower until quarantine unexpectedly brought him a new love. The pair had been casual friends but lost touch over time. During the lockdown, they happened to be on a group text chain with other friends that eventually whittled down to just the two of them. At that point, “I loaded up my car and drove 20 hours and ended up on her doorstep just to see if it was real,” said Duffy. “We haven’t been apart since.”

Shane will be named the AL CY YOUNG award winner any day now, most likely unanimously. Nobody saw that coming.

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I've very much enjoyed the first 3 (of 6) episodes of this British series starring Dawn French on PBS.

The baseball Hall of Famer who runs a funeral home: Andre Dawson's second act "YOU RETURN A MAN to dust and say, 'Return, O children of man!'" the reverend prays to God, quoting Psalm 90 about the brevity of human life. "For a thousand years in your sight are but as yesterday when it is past." The preacher, standing in one corner at the front of a chapel drenched in warm apricot tones, plays a traditional role in this ancient ceremony. So does the keyboardist in the opposite corner, sitting on the other side of a flower-topped casket. But the front row at this memorial service is empty, and the mourners around the room sit far apart. The speakers and singers wear masks, and staff members at the Paradise Memorial Funeral Home in Miami don gloves. It's just before Good Friday, and the coronavirus pandemic gives new meaning to walking through the valley of the shadow of death. When the grieving family goes home and the hearses and limousines return to their parking spaces, the funeral home's owner takes up his custodial duties. He vacuums the three reposing rooms, straightens up the two offices, scrubs the bathrooms. He knows how he likes things done, so he figures he'll do them himself. And he doesn't consider it particularly physical labor -- he's 65 but still has broad shoulders and strong hands. Besides, he had to work a lot harder when he was playing major league baseball for 21 years. The man with the mop is Hall of Famer Andre Dawson. "PARADISE KIND OF fell into my lap," Dawson says, by way of explaining where life and death have taken him. After making more than $25 million during a 21-year playing career that ended in 1996, Dawson started investing in mortuaries as part of a group formed by his brother Vincent Brown, a Miami attorney. A dozen years ago, Dawson had the chance to buy a funeral parlor in Richmond Heights, a neighborhood at the southern end of Miami that's home to Second Baptist, the church he attends, and 15 minutes down the Don Shula Expressway from where he grew up. The closer Dawson looked at the deal, the more he realized it would require far more than a financial commitment. The state had shut down the business because of license violations. According to Dawson, the building's interior and roof needed renovation. The owner was retiring and moving to Georgia. Taking on the challenge of actually running the place would pull Dawson into an entirely different occupation. At the time, he was still a special assistant to the Florida Marlins. "Do I keep [the funeral home]? Do I sell it? Does the community really need it?" Dawson asked himself. Meeting with local pastors convinced him the answer to the last question was yes -- churches worried about losing services from a partner they had relied on for more than two decades. Dawson began to sense that he personally needed to reopen its doors. "You don't know where God is going to lead you, and this never would have -- in my wildest imagination -- been something I would have thought that I'd be doing," he says. "But I feel like maybe this is my calling." Dawson bought the funeral home and set about refurbishing the structure, redecorating the interior, assembling a staff. "It's not about me, it's not about you, it's about the service being rendered to this community," he told his employees. "Now it's time to make this thing work." Dawson's wife, Vanessa, met Andre when they were kids, and with the engrained trust of a spouse who learned about her partner's fortitude a long time ago, she signed on to Andre's plan. But just about everybody else had doubts. Dawson could have done anything he wanted in retirement, and he chose to deal with dead bodies? His teenage children, Darius and Amber, didn't get it. Neither did his superstar friends. When Jim Rice found out where Dawson was working, he exclaimed, "You do what?" Rickey Henderson, like many people, just gaped. It wasn't just the gruesome nature of his new vocation that gave Dawson's friends and family pause but also the emotion it demanded. Dawson has always been an introvert. And his piercing eyes beam like phasers from under a brow that has been furrowed since he was a child and defines his face even when he smiles. Everyone who knows the man uses the same first adjective to describe him: intense. Pitcher Waite Hoyt, the only other Hall of Famer known to have run a funeral home, had a third gig as a vaudevillian; during offseasons in the 1920s, he sang and performed comedy bits in New York theaters and picked up the nickname "The Merry Mortician." That's not Dawson. Occasionally, Dawson ran into fans who recognized him, including some who wanted to let him know how much he had meant to them in his earlier life. "Are you who I think you are?" a young man once asked as Dawson and his aides approached a house to remove a body. "Well, who do you think I am?" Dawson replied. The answer came instantly, in the form of Dawson's longtime nickname: "You're the Hawk!" REST OF ARTICLE: https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/29224947/the-baseball-hall-famer-runs-funeral-home-andre-dawson-second-act Andre Dawson’s post-MLB life as funeral home owner inspires TV drama Andre Dawson’s post-playing career as a funeral home owner is coming to a television screen near you. CBS is developing a one-hour drama series called “Closure,” which is loosely based on Dawson going from being a Baseball Hall of Famer to running a funeral home, according to Deadline. The series, written by Samantha Corbin-Miller, will follow a former baseball star who takes over his uncle’s funeral home after his adult son disappears. “Rocked by his family’s loss, he and his three daughters — a homicide detective, coroner and trauma nurse, who each have their own parallel journeys in the business of death — commit themselves to helping others find the peace and closure their family hasn’t been able to yet,” according to Deadline. Dawson will reportedly serve as a consultant for the show. The 66-year-old Dawson spent 21 years as an outfielder for the Expos, Cubs, Red Sox and Marlins before retiring after the 1996 season. He then entered the funeral home business in 2003 and owns one in Florida. “You never know where God is going to lead you, but wherever it leads you, you have to be prepared,” Dawson told USA Today in 2018. “When this first fell into my lap, I prayed on it. I thought, ‘How am I really going to pull this off without having the background, or knowing anything really about the industry?’ But I wanted to make this as good a facility as I possibly could, and I’m proud of it. “It’s important to me because this is a product the community needs.’’ SEE ALSO MLB Hall of Famer's second career has been greatly affected by coronavirus

WWII vet gets final wish to be buried in Juicy Fruit-themed casket A World War II veteran with a major sweet tooth has been granted his last wish — to be buried in a casket painted like a pack of Juicy Fruit. Sammy Oakey of Oakey’s Funeral Service got permission from the Mars Wrigley Company to use the iconic yellow chewing gum logo and fulfill the request of his longtime pal Suttie Economy. Economy, 94, who is currently at a Virginia Veterans Care Clinic due to a heart condition, has a long-documented love of the gum, CNN reported. He developed his taste for it while serving in WWII, when the company took Juicy Fruit and other varieties of gum off the market and dedicated its entire output to the US Armed Forces. When he got home to Roanoke, Virginia, Economy was known to always have a pack on him, and freely donated to others in the community, Oakey told the outlet. “Suttie would come in here for visitation or just come in to visit and he would always bring a bunch of packs of Juicy Fruit chewing gum and put it out for the employees to enjoy,” said Oakey. “He didn’t just do that here. He did it at restaurant and doctor’s offices wherever he went.” The gum became a meaningful symbol for the veteran, said his brother, John Economy. “It served as a symbol for his mission to talk to people about the World War II memorial and to honor the deceased veterans that died for our freedom,” he told CNN. At first, the Mars Wrigley company denied Oakey’s request to use its trademark on Economy’s casket, he said. But the vet’s wish gained attention on social media, and Oakey received a contact for the company’s president from a community member. Within a few days, the VP called and gave his blessing for the logo to be used. The company also sent 250 packs of Juicy Fruit to Economy’s family, Oakey said. The family is now seeking an artist to paint the casket.

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IT'S MY FAVORITE SONG WHEN I'M FEELING SUICIDAL:

Does watching FLIP OR FLOP regularly count? BTW, I no longer believe in true love or happily ever after now that Christina is divorcing Ant. ‘Flip or Flop’ renewed for 10th season at HGTV with exes Christina Anstead, Tarek El Moussa

JACK McFARLAND IS GOING TO BE A GRANDPA!!! 33 year old Michael Angarano Elliot is engaged and his fiance is preggers! BTW, I finally watched the rest of W&G's abysmal, abhorrent, abominable, atrocious, awful, acid reflux-inducing final season, and I have to admit that the last 9 episodes, while abysmal, abhorrent, abominable, atrocious, awful, and acid reflux-inducing, weren't quite as abysmal, abhorrent, abominable, atrocious, awful, and acid reflux-inducing as the first 9.

Frank Bielec of TLC's "Trading Spaces" has died after a heart attack, according to a family member. Bielec was 72 and died at a Houston hospital on Friday, his stepson Matt Gafford said. The TLC Network issued a statement Saturday saying, it's "a sad day for the TLC family as we learn of the passing of beloved 'Trading Spaces' designer Frank Bielec." His colleague, designer Vern Yip, tweeted on Friday night saying, "Funny, wise, nice, and talented, he always lent perspective and levity to every situation." Home makeover host Ty Pennington tweeted about Bielec on Saturday, saying, "One of the best humans I've had the good fortune to call friend. You will be missed Frank." Friend and longtime "Trading Spaces" makeup artist Randall Tang said Bielec was "one of the kindest and most generous people I've ever worked with." He also had the "best one liners ever. I could never keep up." "I applaud his work ethic and sincerity with all he was to the cast and crew of 'Trading Spaces,' " Tang said. Genevieve Gorder, who worked as a designer with Bielec on the show, said: "Frank was the rock of our family, an authentic leader from the heart and the purest of joy. This loss is deep, but our allegiance to his spirit...is forever. TO OUR UNICORN, to our center....RID (rest in doing) he couldn't sit still."

Deaths from the coronavirus ticked higher in New York over the last 24 hours, but hospitalizations and new cases continued to decline, according to Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who warned Saturday about complacency amid data showing reason for optimism. An additional 157 people died of COVID-19 Friday, 105 in hospitals and 52 in nursing homes, a jump from the 132 recorded the day before, the governor said during his coronavirus briefing in Albany. The state’s death toll now stands at 22,478. “That number has been stubborn,” Cuomo said of the daily death toll. “We just need to make sure we don’t go back to the hell we’ve gone through.” Hospitalizations fell to 6,220 — a level last seen at the start of the pandemic, and a third of the peak number. New cases fell to 2,419, from 2,762 reported the day before, the governor said. Five regions in the state were allowed to reopen for business Friday, and Cuomo said he expects to see an increase in cases as more areas are phased in. “You’re in control of what happens. How you act will determine what happens,” he said. “If people are smart, then yes, you will see an increase in the numbers, but you won’t see a spike.” “Be smart, be diligent and don’t underestimate this virus,” he added. Nothing is certain with the coronavirus, said Cuomo, admitting his surprise when he learned that the majority of new cases were seen in people who left their homes to exercise, socialize or shop, rather than essential workers. “That was exactly wrong,” he said. “The infection rate among essential workers is lower than the general population and those new cases are coming predominantly from people who are not working and they are at home.” The state’s budget director, Robert Mujica, said officials expect to “learn a lot more” about how the virus travels from contact tracing over the next week. Also Saturday, Suffolk and Westchester, were added to the list of those approved to begin elective surgeries and ambulatory care services. “We want to make sure people who need medical services are getting medical services. There was a period when hospitals were dealing basically with COVID patients. We are past that period. If you need medical attention, if you need a medical procedure, you should get it,” Cuomo said. “Hospitals are safe places to go to. The extent people are worried about going to hospitals, there is no reason,” he said, while still urging vigilance — and common sense.

MLB’s thoughtful coronavirus plan shows how risky this all is By Joel Sherman The answers just might be in those 67 pages. Unfortunately, so are all the difficulties. MLB sent the union a “2020 Operations Manual” to cover the protocols designed to restart the game with health and safety. The 67 pages delivered Friday night are an exhaustive effort covering items as large as testing for COVID-19 and as small as the best practices for rosin bags and hitting donuts. There are multiple diagrams meant to provide social-distancing recommendations for items, from sitting in the dugout to organizing pitchers’ fielding practice in spring training. Even with all the detail, MLB considers this document a draft based on its medical advisors counsel that will be chiseled further with recommendations from teams and the union. It’s impressive. It’s also depressive. Because any reader of the document will be reminded of just how many needles will have to be threaded in how many places to not just restart the game, but keep it going for several months to resolution. Now add all the competing voices and agendas — not just in baseball, but government and medicine. Now add the money component. Now — most vitally — add a virus not bound by rules. For those pointing to the Korean Baseball Organization currently playing and MLB adopting many of the same health/safety practices, yes, it is great that there was a forerunner. But that is a 10-team league with travel exclusively by bus. South Korea’s governmental action and citizenry buy-in were decisive and aggressive. So that country doesn’t even have 300 deaths from COVID-19, yet nevertheless a small surge in cases in the last week chilled the league if a need for revisions or even a shutdown might be necessary. In the United States, deaths are near 90,000, the number dying every day continues to go up not down and states are all not reading from the same playbook. It is into that forum that MLB is going to try to get the union to sign off on new health/safety protocols and restart the season. I hope they pull it off. I love the game, and my livelihood is built around it. But every page of the document screams about the kind of cooperation, cohesion and competence that will be required to succeed. Adaptability will be at the forefront, especially for players, a breed raised on routine about to have pretty much all of their regimens disrupted or eliminated from hitting in indoor cages to spitting sunflower seeds to modified workout rooms to travel to … really, the 67 pages cover it all. Which is why so much of this is going to come down to just how badly do we want to play major league baseball in 2020? Because MLB and the union will do their best to create the finest health/safety practices currently known. But that will merely mitigate risk, not remove it. In a section titled “Conduct Outside of Club Facilities,” MLB states it will not restrict activities for the players and staff who will make up the inner sanctum of spring training and a season, but it warns about participating in non-baseball group activities, adding, “The careless actions of a single member of the team places the entire team [and their families] at risk.” Now think about how many single members there are. There will be 1,500 players in 30 spring training sites. You can about double that number for support staff. Family. Anyone they mix with outside of the facility. Now move to the regular season. Add bus drivers and pilots and anyone necessary to clean rooms in hotels. The concentric circles keep going. and MLB’s plan covers it all in minute detail, but there are words, there are practices, and there is what the virus is going to do. MLB’s plan discourages players/staff from leaving hotels on the road for anything but games, and to do otherwise necessitates permission from team personnel. Good luck with that oversight. Plus, it is probably easier for the average player to break a chewing tobacco habit than not go out after games day after day on the road. The discipline necessary will be dramatic. And a single person breaking the discipline chain “places the entire team [and their families] at risk.” In the best scenario, MLB is hoping to begin spring training in mid-June. That means getting an agreement with the Players Association no later than the next two weeks. Because to implement all the spring health/safety protocols and to get the players there will probably take another two weeks. And in the next two weeks MLB and the union importantly have to agree on how to pay the players, a contentious issue that is making groups that need to be cooperative, not that. But why argue about money until you know if you will play, and there is no play without agreeing on health and safety, and in the 67 pages that MLB sent, there are a lot of protocols on how to try to return the best way possible. It is thorough and thoughtful. It also is 67 pages that say as much between the lines as in the words. Even if they pull it off, it's going to look and feel weird. With no fans in the stands, how will they be able to mimic the sound of 50,000 people booing the Astros and banging on trash cans?

Beloved comic actor Fred Willard has died at age 86 of natural causes. The comedian was best known for roles in films “Best in Show” and “This is a Spinal Tap,” and TV’s “Modern Family. “My father passed away very peacefully last night at the fantastic age of 86 years old. He kept moving, working and making us happy until the very end. We loved him so very much!” his daughter Hope toldPeople. Earlier this year, Willard’s “Modern Family” character Frank Dunphy died on the show, of old age. Willard portrayed the character Fred Naird in the upcoming Netflix comedy “Space Force,” starring Steve Carell, which premieres on May 29th. Willard’s wife, Mary, died in 2018. Getting wedding gifts on ROSEANNE

Any time a person uses 'passes' or 'passed' referring to death, I'm reminded of this classic Golden Girls exchange: Truby Steele : Oh, my husband passed. Rose Nylund : Passed what? Dorothy Zbornak : A slow-moving Winnebago, Rose! And these exchanges also come to mind for this thread: Blanche: But he wants me. I can feel it. Dorothy: Let someone else feel it. Blanche: But we were meant for each other. I'm a woman, he's a man... Dorothy: And what am I, Little Richard? [blanche is talking about her beau Richard's son Little Richard during an outing to Bermuda] Rose: Little Richard was in Bermuda?! Dorothy: Yes, Rose. He was burying Fats Domino in the sand.

Worldwide bee population buzzing back thanks to lockdown Dwindling bee populations have threatened global food security and nutrition, but now they’re buzzing back thanks to the cleaner air caused by humans going into confinement. Wild bees have benefited from the planetary lockdown after years of sharply declining around the world. Conservationists say a world without bees would be a nightmare and efforts should be made to preserve them after the pandemic is over. “These creatures are vital to what we eat and what our countryside looks like,” Gill Perkins, chief executive of the Bumblebee Conservation Trust, told the BBC. “They provide a whole ecosystem service.” In the UK, bee specialists point to how officials have stopped maintaining highway shoulders, allowing bees to flourish in what are rapidly becoming lush habitats. Fewer cars on the road during the lockdown has meant less air pollution which makes it easier for bees to forage. Emptier highways have also spared many of the estimated 24 billion bees and wasps killed on North American roads every year. Bees are the world’s chief pollinators. They fertilize a third of the food we eat and 80% of flowering plants. Bees and other pollinating insects are worth about $150 billion to the world economy. To bee or not to bee, that is the question...

Store owner in California who banned masks says he’s being harassed over his views A Southern California flooring store owner who banned masks in his shop said this week he’s being threatened and harassed over his coronavirus views. “The government should not be doing what it’s doing,” Ramsay Devereux, who owns Ramsay One Construction in Ventura County, told the Los Angeles Times. “It’s absurd what’s going on,” he added. “No one has isolated a virus. No one has proved it. You can’t catch a virus. It’s not even possible. It’s the pharmaceutical industry trying to make a lot of money and make vaccines that are poisonous.” Four signs outside of his store read: “We’re OPEN – to the truth,” “No masks allowed,” “handshakes OK,” “Hugs very OK.” COVID-19 is a highly contagious disease that mainly spreads through respiratory droplets in the air. Wearing masks can help slow the spread of the virus to others, experts say, because it keeps droplets sent into the air through breathing, sneezing or coughing inside the mask. Devereaux is seemingly in violation of Ventura County’s current social distancing order for businesses, requiring establishments to “enforce COVID-19 prevention plans” and give written notice for how it will comply with social distancing requirements. He told The Times, “there was not one bit of criticism,” when he first put up the signs. People even came into the store for hugs, he said. “And then everything broke loose,” he added. Last weekend, TMZ posted a story on Devereaux’s signs and a separate tweet of a Facebook picture of Devereaux’s signs with the comment “Actual store in my town,” went viral. David Parsons, an American history professor who posted the tweet, told The Times, “Reading the thread of all these reactions, it’s clear that Americans are all living in their own media-saturated reality.” “All these rabbit hole investigations people have done. It’s scary to me because managing democracy is always messy, but it’s harder when you have a population that does not even accept the premise of what’s going on,” he added. Devereaux said he’s gotten angry emails and phone calls and Yelp even had to shut down reviews on his business’s page because of angry criticisms unrelated to flooring. One person called him a “COVID-19 denier!” according to The Times. Devereaux said one person threatened to burn down his store. “It’s shaken me up,” he admitted.