samhexum

Coronavirus baking demonstration backfires hilariously This baking tutorial sure went a-rye. A woman’s bread-making demonstration during the coronavirus quarantine backfired hilariously after she inadvertently tipped over the cutting board and ended up with a faceful of flour. The splat-tacular mishap can be seen in a viral Facebook video that has nabbed more than 8.8 million views since it was posted May 6. The uproarious clip, which is cheekily titled “The new way to make bread lol,” starts off with the unnamed baker — whose country of origin is unspecified — kneading dough and sprinkling it with flour as she explains the steps in Spanish. However, her cooking demo goes south when she attempts to use a rolling pin on her precariously placed cutting board, causing it to catapult a bowl full of flour directly into her face. The clip concludes with the embarrassed host cursing in Spanish and motioning for the camera person to stop recording. The would-be Martha Stewart’s cooking calamity has become a hit with the social-media masses, racking up over a half-million shares and almost 75,000 comments. Baking blunders have become a viral trend as stay-at-home cooks attempt to entertain themselves during lockdown — or replicate their favorite dishes from now-shuttered restaurants with disastrous results. An attempt to make a Key lime pie literally blew up in this amateur pastry chef’s face. And one woman’s chocolate-filled banana bread turned out looking like something that was exhumed from the rubble of a volcanic eruption. Then there are the woman whose banana bread resembled a brick more than a loaf and the misshapen pizza that looks like it was dropped face-down on the floor. But the crown jewels of cooking catastrophes could be these budding bakers’ genital-evoking macarons and cookies in need of censorship. https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=349731982672532 amanda hugandkiss nobody nearⓋ@wendybyrdm This was supposed to be a nice, neat, braided circle of chocolate, caramel, and banana filled chocolate yeast bread, but the strands all burst and it ended up looking like a pan of Sasquatch feces. Tasted ok, though Auntie Anne’s selling DIY pretzel-making kits during pandemic Don’t get it twisted — cooking at home during quarantine is fun and all, but this ready-made kit is aiming to save even the most patient of home chefs from getting salty. Back by popular demand, Auntie Anne’s is once again selling its DIY pretzel-making kit to keep fans satisfied during the pandemic. The kit contains instructions and ingredients to prepare 10 original or cinnamon sugar soft pretzels, offering what the company claims is the closest option to the chain’s famous fare while many shopping malls and foodservice entities remain closed. “Make your kitchen, smell like our kitchen with our DIY At-Home Pretzel Kit,” wrote Auntie Anne’s on Instagram, no doubt referencing the pungent smell of pretzels that permeates the corner of any mall where an Auntie Anne’s is located. “We heard from our guests loud and clear that they are missing our hand-rolled, golden brown pretzel snacks, and quite frankly, we’re missing our guests, too!” Heather Neary, Auntie Anne’s president, recently said of the news in a recent press release. “The DIY At-Home Pretzel Kit is not only a great way to satisfy those pretzel cravings, but also creates a fun activity for families to enjoy together while remaining at home.” Neary explained that while the DIY kit was initially sold for a limited-time to celebrate National Pretzel Day on April 23, “it brought such joy to pretzel lovers that we decided we absolutely had to bring it back again.” Pretzel fanatics have also been posting their snackable creations to Instagram, with many aiming to show off their pretzel-tying skills. The pretzel kits are available exclusively in the U.S. for online purchase, currently retailing for $20.

After battling coronavirus for more than a month in intensive care, Broadway actor Nick Cordero has woken up from a medically-induced coma. His wife Amanda Kloots made the announcement on her Instagram story while holding their son Elvis. “Guys, we might have to change our hashtag to #CodeRocky because Nick — Dada — is awake!” she said. Code Rocky is a term that medical professionals use to indicate when coronavirus patients are on their way to a full recovery. Kloots had previously been using the hashtag #WakeUpNick to spread the word about Cordero’s condition and show support for him via social media. Kloots also gave more updates regarding Cordero’s condition in a separate post to her Instagram story, stating that he is still weak but following verbal commands. “He is extremely weak, so weak that he can’t close his mouth,” Kloots wrote. “But he is following commands, which means mental status is coming back.” Over the past few days, Cordero had started showing more signs of waking up and understanding commands. However, Kloots said in an Instagram Live video that they’re still preparing for a long recovery. “You don’t want to get yourself too excited because it’s been such a road. That’s why I say it’s a very long road still…but we are the beginnings of recovery,” she said. Cordero has been hospitalized since late March due to complications caused by coronavirus. After he was was initially diagnosed, doctors had to amputate his right leg due to blood clotting caused by blood thinners. He suffered even more health scares, including two mini strokes, a septic infection, fungus in his lungs, and he was given a temporary pacemaker for his heart.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQbfuJ7KQr4

They haven't reconciled. Anderson Cooper said Tuesday that he has decided to co-parent his new son with ex boyfriend Benjamin Maisani, and declared that his friends have become his family. The CNN host told Howard Stern on that he has remained close enough to his former flame, Benjamin Maisani, whom he dated for a decade, that he asked him to help raise Wyatt Morgan. “Don’t you want a clean break from this guy? I mean this was a guy, you were in love, you had a close relationship, why have him involved?” Stern, 66, asked. “I don’t really have a family, so my friends have become my family. This is somebody I was involved with for 10 years,” Cooper, 52, answered. “He’s a great guy,” Cooper said of Maisani, 47, and why they’re co-parenting Wyatt together. “We didn’t work out as a couple, but … when I was a little kid, it was just my mom and my brother, but it was my mom — she was not the most parental person and I wish some adult after my dad died had stepped in and just been like, ‘You know what, I’ll take you to a ball game,'” he said. “Or, ‘Let’s go out to lunch every now and then, and let’s just talk.’ You know, no one ever did that and so I thought, well if something happens to me or even if something doesn’t happen to me, if more people love my son and are in his life, I’m all for that.” “You know, my ex is a great guy, and I think it’s good to have two parents if you can.” Cooper added that while he plans on going by “Dad” or “Daddy” by Wyatt, Maisani, 47 who speaks French to him will be called “Papa.” Cooper told Stern he has no idea what Maisani says to Wyatt in French, “He could be turning the kid against me, I don’t know.”

California man who went shopping in KKK hood won’t be charged The California man who went grocery shopping wearing a Ku Klux Klan hood last week said he didn’t mean to make “a racial statement” and won’t be facing charges, police said Monday. The hooded creep was spotted roaming the aisles of a Vons supermarket in Santee on May 2, a day after San Diego residents were required to wear face coverings in public amid the coronavirus pandemic. “The man expressed frustration with the coronavirus and having people tell him what he can and cannot do,” the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department said in a statement to NBC News. “He said that wearing the hood was not intended to be a racial statement. In summary, he said, ‘It was a mask and it was stupid.'” The man’s getup drew outrage on social media and from officials in the city of almost 60,000 residents. But the US attorney’s office and the San Diego County District Attorney’s Office investigated and didn’t find enough evidence to charge the man, who wasn’t identified by cops. “This incident should serve as a reminder for anyone contemplating wearing or displaying items so closely associated with hate and human suffering that our society does not hold in high regard those who do so,” the sheriff’s department said in the statement. “Santee is a city of families, and the community is rightfully disgusted at this man’s despicable behavior,” it added. “The Sheriff’s Department thoroughly investigates incidents such as these and will hold those who violate the law accountable.”

Yeah, butt I'll bet it's still a lot nicer than hers.

Not unless she has an ass like this...

Christopher Meloni and his wife have put their historic Hollywood Hills home on the market for $6.5 million, according to Variety. The 1916 home is famous for having been the TV (and real-life) house of Ozzie and Harriet Nelson of the famed sitcom “The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet,” which ran from 1952 to 1966. According to Variety, Ozzie died in the master bedroom in 1975. The LA Times reported in 2013 that a Beverly Hills realtor, who sold the home three times after, said there was a legend it was haunted. The address also was Ari Gold’s house on “Entourage.”

I know the name Gary Barlow from his 2013 duet with Agnetha Faltskog. They performed the song at a charity event; it was her first time on stage in years.

Elmhurst Hospital workers to receive three-night complimentary vacation post-pandemic More than 4,000 employees at NYC Health + Hospitals/Elmhurst will each receive a free, three-night vacation from American Airlines and Hyatt Hotels once the COVID-19 pandemic subsides, the airline and hotel announced last week. The partnership is a showing of thanks to the doctors, physician assistants, nurses and the facilities and food employees who staffed one of the hospitals hardest hit by COVID-19. The vacation destinations will be around the U.S. and Caribbean. “Every worker at Elmhurst has seen and experienced challenges many of us cannot imagine. They’ve given so much of themselves and chose to serve their community with care, compassion and equity for every patient,” said Robert Isom, president of American Airlines. “When they are able to take a break, we hope the time away will help them and their loved ones recharge and that they feel our deepest appreciation for their sacrifice and heroism.” According to American, the donation is the largest total flight count ever given to an organization by the airline. With the purpose of unwinding and spending time with their families after months of tireless work in the hospital, Elmhurst staff will be provided wellbeing experiences, meals and beverages and outdoor activities in Hyatt hotels. “We are extremely grateful to Hyatt and American Airlines for this generous gift to our health care workers, who have been at the epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Israel Rocha, the vice president of NYC Health + Hospitals and CEO of NYC Health + Hospitals/Elmhurst. “Our doctors, nurses and other staff on the front lines of this unprecedented health care crisis really appreciate the outpouring of support from two of America’s major companies, and we look forward to taking advantage of these well-earned vacations in the near future.” JetBlue is giving away 100,000 free round-trip flights to healthcare workers JetBlue, an American low-cost airline, is helping an impressive amount of healthcare workers take some well-deserved time off. The airline is giving away 100,000 pairs of round-trip flights to healthcare workers across the United States. “They’ve earned our love, our gratitude, and some serious R&R,” the airline said. Nominations are currently open on the JetBlue website. While you can’t nominate yourself, the contest’s rules say you can nominate as many other people as you want. The 100,000 winners will receive two flights to anywhere JetBlue flies. All winners have to do is pay flight taxes and fees. The contest states that 90,000 winners will be selected from random draws and 10,000 pairs of flights will be donated to New York City hospital healthcare workers, the city where the airline is headquartered. To be eligible, a person must be a healthcare worker, first responder, or public health worker who is “actively serving on the frontlines of the COVID-19 response.” Contest entries are asked to be submitted before May 16 and the winners will be drawn on May 18. On April 28, JetBlue became one of the first American airlines to require all passengers to wear face masks during travel.

I wasn't suggesting otherwise. I just think it's sad that others age as I remain eternally youthful and desirable.

Firefighters with California's South Lake Tahoe Fire Fighters Association were recently dispatched to Key Marina after receiving a call about three bear cubs who had become separated from their mom. By the time they arrived on the scene, firefighters found that the mama bear had already begun to execute a daring rescue plan to reunite the family. Slowly, she encouraged each of the cubs to jump into the water, then swam them each to safety. "The mother bear was determined to save all three of her cubs herself and ensure that they see tomorrow by continually swimming each one to safety," the association said in a Facebook post on May 3. https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=2816818148437545

Anne Meara's widower (& Ben's dad) was 92.

https://www.companyofmen.org/threads/complete-lock-down-coming.156545/page-21#post-1912568

OPINION NYC should be rushing to furlough workers who can collect from the feds By Nicole Gelinas Last week, Mayor Bill de Blasio brought up the F-word: furloughs. Without massive federal aid, he warned, Gotham will have to “furlough and layoff … the exact people who have been the heroes in this crisis,” namely, “the first responders, the health-care workers.” Hizzoner is making a threat here. But a responsible mayor and council would be using furloughs as a tool: transfer people who aren’t doing immediately essential work to the expanded federal safety net, starting, yes, with the Department of Education. New York City employs nearly 335,000 people — and plans only 1,000 job cuts over the next six weeks. Even as the city asks for more federal aid, it isn’t using the federal aid Congress already provided through the CARES Act: expanded unemployment benefits that allow any single breadwinner who earns the average household income to have all of his or her income replaced for nine months. This system has flaws, including swamped state unemployment systems. But it’s also a lifeline to millions of retailers, restaurants, arts institutions, museums and so forth, who can at least know, as they lay off staff temporarily, that their workers are protected. Our city government, too, has tens of thousands of workers, at least, who can’t do their job in a lockdown. The Department of Education, with 149,000 workers, makes up nearly half that workforce. These workers do critical tasks in normal times — but can’t do them now. The DOE has nearly 1,500 school-lunch workers, for example, who earn well below the median wage, about $35,000 to $40,000 a year. Save for a skeleton crew preparing to-go meals for parents to pick up, furlough them; the city could help individual workers as they apply for unemployment insurance and pledge not to let anyone lose a paycheck. The city could also continue paying health benefits. The city has 5,300 school-safety agents making less than $50,000 a year. Absurdly, de Blasio wants them to enforce social distancing, putting themselves at risk. Save for officers needed to secure meal-pickup sites, transfer them temporarily, too, to the federal safety net. Nearly 2,000 educational “community assistants,” who also make well below the median income? 11,000 paraprofessionals, who work with teachers and students, and who likewise make well below median income? With summer school canceled and online classes winding down, the city could transfer most to the federal safety net with no financial harm to workers. The city shows no compunction about laying off some education workers: bus drivers, because they work for private contractors, are already on furlough. The city’s nearly 130,000 teachers and educational supervisors of course, make well above median wage, and so would lose income in any furlough: about $30,000 a year. Perversely, though, the teachers’ contract, which mandates that junior teachers suffer furloughs before senior ones, works in favor of near-complete income replacement, as junior teachers earn less. This goes for the rest of the city’s workforce: Does the Taxi and Limousine Commission need 230 inspectors when the taxi and limousine business has fallen by 80 percent? 125 day-care inspectors, when day cares are shut? 250 food-safety inspectors, when restaurants are closed? The city simply can’t spend the $30.3 billion it expected to spend on labor for the fiscal year that started July 1. It should be taking advantage of a federal rescue that can cut this bill. This also buys time — time to go through the thousands of administrative jobs the mayor has added in six years. And it buys negotiation power: Unions can agree to an across-the-board wage freeze to bring back jobs. It also buys more flexibility in the fall and next year, when the rest of the nation may have moved on. New York is acutely vulnerable here, due to its density. Will residents and workers return? Will real-estate values plummet? If we don’t use the extra federal safety net when it’s there, we will face mass-scale layoffs of essential workers next year — and with no extra federal unemployment insurance to offer them. No elected city official will speak publicly about this idea now, because it sounds mean. But what’s really mean is being quiet now, then having overcrowded classrooms and long waits for school lunches a year from now because the money has run out for students and for future laid-off workers. Nicole Gelinas is a contributing editor of City Journal.

Mazel Tov! Some good news for a change! Happy Mother's Day! Ruthie Anne Miles, the Broadway star whose child and unborn baby died after a driver ran a red light in Park Slope, Brooklyn, has given birth to a daughter. Miles, 37, announced the news on Instagram Saturday just in time for Mother’s Day along with an image of baby feet under the text, “Welcome to the world, Baby Hope Elizabeth.” “3 generations of April Babies,” she captioned the image with yellow heart emojis. Miles was pregnant and crossing Ninth Street at Fifth Avenue with her 4-year-old daughter back in March 2018 when a driver slammed into them, killing her daughter as well as another child crossing the intersection with his mother. The crash horrified the city and eventually led to the passing of new street safety legislation and a traffic-calming redesign of Ninth Street. Miles announced last month she was anticipating another child with her husband, Jonathan Blumenstein. She thanked loved ones at the time on Instagram for helping the couple cope with the horrific crash. “Thank you especially to the many of you who supported us in the aftermath of the crash, continually lifted us up in prayer, doused us with love, encouraged us, let us be and grieve these two years,” she wrote, “and now rejoice with us in this new life.”

Alec Baldwin returned as President Trump for the season finale of “Saturday Night Live” — chugging Clorox while giving a college commencement speech by Zoom. In the cold open, Baldwin’s Trump was told he was the eighth pick for the graduates’ speech, with preferred options Axl Rose, murder hornets and even X Æ A-12, Elon Musk’s new baby with singer Grimes. Just one student clapped as he appeared in a trademark “Make America Great Again” hat” on their Zoom chat window, with the president telling them, “Congratulations to the class of COVID-19.” “I’m so honored to be your valedictator,” he told them, meshing “valedictorian” and “dictator.” The students soon started calling for White House coronavirus task force expert Dr. Anthony Fauci to replace him, much to the fake Trump’s ire. “Sure, everyone loves Fauci — don’t you hate when these elite medical experts tell you what to do?” Baldwin’s president said, later insisting he was “the world’s leading expert on infectious diseases.’ Baldwin’s Trump then made a dry cough — a key symptom of the coronavirus — before chugging from a bottle of Clorox bleach. “Good old invincibility juice,” he said, as the skit teased Trump for questioning whether disinfectant could be injected into the body to kill the coronavirus, remarks he later insisted were sarcastic. The pretend Trump then tried to make a true motivational speech, telling the graduates to “believe in yourselves and you can achieve anything” — noting that he “started as the son of a simple, wealthy slumlord.” “Surround yourself with the worst people you can find. That way you’ll always shine,’ he told them, also advising them to just call anything they don’t understand “stupid.” “And live every day like it’s your last — because we’re gonna let this virus run wild,” he told them. “This virus that — remember — was started in a lab in Obama,” he said, naming the former president in place of Wuhan, the Chinese city where the contagion originated. By the end, all but one of the students had switched off from his Zoom call. “Wow, this crowd has thinned out faster than Adele,” Baldwin’s Trump said, referring to the British singer’s dramatic weight loss. Baldwin then transferred to the rest of the show by saying, “Taped from my home one last time — it’s Saturday night.”

Argentine porn star Ian Frost was skewered online when semi-nude images of himself and his friends apparently at a New York City house party Friday night surfaced on social media. This was after he’d pontificated piously about life in lockdown. Frost was forced to apologize Saturday. Frost’s faux pas was pounced on because he said he was isolating at home, cooking healthy food and using video conferencing to get a “reprieve” from the rigors of quarantine in a recent interview. “This situation that we are living is showing a completely new face of everyone, including myself,” he told DNA magazine. ” I love anthropology and physiology and I personally think that’s a great opportunity for introspection.” Frost apparently needed a reprieve from all that introspection but now regrets it. “I’ve learned some hard lessons the last few days and I appreciate those of you who have held me accountable during a rough time for all,” Frost wrote on Twitter. “I love attending parties with my friends, but my timing and my decision-making couldn’t have been worse.”

Well, I enjoyed TOMMY, but I never read any buzz about it, so I can't say I'm surprised. I liked the characters a lot. Oh, well. C'est la vie! Que Sera Sera! Carol had too many flaws.

Long-time New Yorkers will get the reference... Michael Halkias, owner of the iconic, eclectic Park Slope event space the Grand Prospect Hall, has died from COVID-19. He was 82 years old. Greek publication Anamniseis first reported the news. Halkias has owned the renowned hall, located at 263 Prospect Avenue between Fifth and Sixth avenues, with his wife, Alice Halkias, since 1981, NY1 reports. Many New Yorkers were familiar with the duo through a memorable Grand Prospect Hall that featured the couple and aired nonstop for years on local stations across the metropolitan area. Saturday Night Live even the commercial in 2019. “He was a man with big vision and an even bigger heart,” state Sen. Andrew Gounardes tweeted on Wednesday evening. “And of course, he made dreams come true for thousands of people who celebrated at his hall.” The opulent, over-the-top space — built in 1892 — is a national historical landmark and was the first electrified commercial building in Brooklyn, according the building’s website. American Express has filmed a commercial in the space, fashion magazine Vogue staged a photo shoot there, and the Grand Prospect Hall has been featured in movies including The Royal Tenenbaums and Francis Ford Coppola’s Cotton Club. It also served as a well-known music venue, hosting a variety of festivals and concerts, including Arcade Fire’s fifth album release party in 2017. In 2015, the couple opened the Brooklyn Bavarian Biergarten, a seasonal, German-American outdoor restaurant and bar, next to the event space. The sprawling beer garden features a waterfall, terraces, and enough room to seat 500 people in the garden, with additional interior “Glass House” that could sit another 500 people. New York City’s restaurant and hospitality industry has been hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic. Longstanding industry leaders, including top chef Floyd Cardoz and Joseph Migliucci, the owner of legendary Bronx red-sauce restaurant Mario’s, have died in recent weeks due to the novel coronavirus. LATE NIGHT LOCAL TV WILL NEVER BE THE SAME!

‘Driveways’ review: One of Brian Dennehy’s last films is also one of his best Running time: 83 minutes. Not rated. If you want to celebrate the life of legendary actor Brian Dennehy, who died last month at age 81, start with one of his final films: “Driveways.” His performance as a widowed veteran is right up there with his finest screen work, which makes his passing all the sadder. For fans, the easy-to-embrace new dramedy can feel like meeting the man we thought we knew for the very first time. Gone is his gruff exterior, the comic chops and his incomparable facility with the muscular poetry of Eugene O’Neill. Dennehy’s character, Del, is a guy you wanna hug, and who will probably hug you right back. He’s a sensitive Korean War vet, and the neighbor of new arrivals Kathy (Hong Chau) and her 8-year-old son Cody (Lucas Jaye). They’ve just moved to town to sell the home of Kathy’s sister, who recently died. Cody, who’s so socially awkward he pukes when he’s stressed, is a shy outsider who forms a sweet friendship with Del. They both need it. Kathy has her struggles, too. She learns that her sister was a hoarder, so getting the house on the market means confronting a loved one’s demons. Chau doesn’t overdo it as a single mom whose attention is understandably divided. As the family is Asian, some might rush to compare the film to “Gran Torino,” in which Clint Eastwood not only said “Get off my lawn,” but did so while pointing a shotgun. Co-writers Hannah Bos and Paul Thureen’s movie, however, is much more natural than that and doesn’t rely on the dull cliche of the Grinch next door having his heart grow three sizes because of a tot. Del is emotionally paralyzed, but not angry or vindictive. He’s caught in a fog. His wife is dead, and his friends at the VFW are succumbing to dementia. What unfolds is a story of mutual loneliness; of how a man in his eighties, despite a mountain of life experience, can feel the very same voids as an eight-year-old boy. And how a little kid can find more comfort in a Korean War vet than the “cool” people his own age. Jaye plays Cody sublimely, though he probably doesn’t realize it yet. “Driveways” isn’t all sad though. A quiet game of bingo will earn your smile. How rare is it that when a beloved actor dies, we can honestly say they were doing extraordinary work right ’til the end?

Nick Cordero, 41, may be in the early stages of waking up from a medically-induced coma after his two month battle with coronavirus. Cordero’s doctors at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles have seen very small signs of eye movement and tracking — something that he has not been able to do since he went into the coma. Amanda Kloots, Cordero’s wife, took to social media on Wednesday to share the news in an emotional Instagram story, calling “the best news they’ve gotten so far.” “The doctor just called and said that Nick is showing very, very, very early, early, early signs of stages of tracking,” Kloots said on Instagram. “The doctor just really thinks this is a great sign that he is starting to wake up.” Just yesterday, Kloots reported that her husband had a “rocky night” when his oxygen levels went down. Cordero has been battling the virus since last month and had his right leg amputated due to some complications. Kloots ended her update with the optimistic note that Mother’s Day is just around the corner and she hopes that her husband will wake up as a gift to his family. “Maybe he will wake up for me and his mom,” Kloots said.