samhexum

Maniac slashes 2 people at Grand Central subway station in separate attacks MERRY XMAS!

If you watch it on half speed, you get to ogle him that much longer and you can still understand what everybody is saying... they just all sound developmentally disabled. You can always turn on the captions to help with that or if you just can't make out some of the words because of their accents. The captions are pretty accurate throughout and you can figure out the few mistakes that are made.

Two 5 star reviews and then a two star review from today. FA LA LA LA LA...

Who has money to throw away on something that is thrown away 2 seconds after it fulfills its purpose and just creates that much more crap to clean up? I don't even bother with wrapping paper anymore- I just keep some of the smaller boxes I get from Amazon or other places during the year and then kill 2 birds with one stone by putting presents in them so I get them out of the house and I don't even tape them closed anymore- I just do the thing where you fold the cover flaps in the way that keeps them closed. The older, poorer, and less mobile I have gotten over the years has made me realize that Christmas should be as cheap and effortless as possible. Nobody really gives a damn about cards and presents, and if they do, I don't give a damn about them. JOY TO THE WORLD!

'Stressed' Amazon driver abandons 80 packages in Mass. woods during holiday shipping rush https://www.aol.com/news/stressed-amazon-driver-abandons-80-172505998.html

This was a greeting card I found many years ago.

plenty of people can't stand their families and if their friends are busy with their families, why not celebrate the TRUE meaning of an American Xmas... commercialism and spending money that otherwise could've gone to good causes? Add a holiday surcharge and spend the day fucking and building up the old bank account so maybe next year you can afford to buy MORE gifts the people in your life don't need! applause.wav doorbell.wav Is it true what they say....wav Please Come Again.wav woo hoo.wav urgent messages.wav real & spectacular.wav That's the way I like it.wav tradition.wav jingle_dogs.wav

jingle_dogs.wav

Bold thieves are targeting tiny homes — by stealing the entire house

THESE FOLKS GOT A GREY (ALMOST) ELEPHANT GIFT. DOES THAT COUNT? Mammoth discovery 50,000-year-old baby mammoth found in ‘exceptional’ shape: ‘Remarkably well preserved’ These scientists made a mammoth discovery — literally.

Mammoth discovery 50,000-year-old baby mammoth found in ‘exceptional’ shape: ‘Remarkably well preserved’ These scientists made a mammoth discovery — literally.

Had a box tonight and am down to one left.

I see she covered one of my favorite Chipmunks songs

Then eventually just walked away like nothing happened.

NOT ENOUGH PICS TO GET A REAL FEEL FOR THE PLACE... A Former Rectory in Newburgh, Complete With White Picket Fence, Yours for $789K Set on a generous lot on one of Newburgh’s architecturally intriguing avenues, this recently renovated former rectory retains its 19th century charm. The wood frame dwelling on the market at 177 Grand Street is within the East End Historic District, an area rich in examples of popular 19th century architectural styles. This three-bay-wide dwelling, with pilasters at the corners, a bracketed cornice hidden by siding, and a front door with sidelights and transom, is on the earlier end of the style spectrum. An historic district inventory dates the dwelling to circa 1840, which fits with some of its Greek Revival style elements, and historic maps show the house already in place by the 1850s. The house on Grand Street is shown on this 1859 map between South and 3rd streets. Next door is the Westminster Reformed Church, marked as No. 13. Map of Orange and Rockland Counties via New York Public Library While it served as a rectory for St. George’s Episcopal Church for much of the 20th century, the house was built as a family home. The inventory and building survey forms filled out in the 1960s and 1970s indicate a George Reeve as an original or early owner. Census records show a George and Caroline Reeve and their family living in Newburgh in the 1850 census. George, a merchant, died in 1854. Caroline and their three children — Maria, Arianna, and George Henry — continued living in the house; she is listed at 177 Grand Street in the 1864 directory. By that time, son George Henry had died the year before and widowed daughter Maria had already returned to the family home, leaving the three women in the household. Census records in the 1860s and 1880s show the trio typically had one live-in female servant. Who that servant was changed in each census. In 1865, it was Lizzie Jackson, a 22-year-old Black woman born in Orange County. In 1870, it was Irish immigrant Julia Kiegan. When Caroline died in 1890, she left the house at 177 Grand Street in trust for her daughter Arianna and gave other real estate holdings outright to daughter Maria Reeve Mead. The two sisters, both in their 50s, continued to live in the house together until Arianna moved to Interpines Sanitarium in Goshen by 1916. Maria died that year and in her will left 177 Grand Street to St. George’s Episcopal Church for use as a rectory with the stipulation that her sister had a life interest in the property. While 177 Grand Street is conveniently next to a church, it isn’t St. George’s; that worship space is a few blocks away. Next door to the house is the former Westminster Reformed Church, now Mt. Calvary FBH Church. Deeds show the house was conveyed to St. George’s in 1917 for use as a rectory and the church owned the property until 1977. During that time local newspapers covered church-related meetings and events that took place in the rectory. In January of 1952, fire trucks showed up at the house after a report of fire. It seems that the Reverend Frank L. Carruthers and parishioners were having a ceremony to burn the Christmas greens, sparking concern from neighbors. The Newburgh News reported that the reverend did have a permit for the fire. The house has had multiple owners since the church sold it. At some point after 1970 the exterior was covered in vinyl siding. A 1970 photograph included in a New York State Parks, Recreation & Historic Preservation building inventory form shows the house with 19th century brackets (perhaps added after the house was built) and paneled frieze visible. Perhaps they are still under that vinyl siding. Currently a two-family, the house comprises a one-bedroom garden level rental and an owner’s triplex above. The five-bedroom triplex has a fair number of 19th century details, including high ceilings, moldings, mantels, and a stair with a curved railing and a coffin corner. The listing notes there are five fireplaces; four are original. The parlor and dining room have mantels of black marble. A doorway framed by pilasters separates the two rooms. A mini conservatory or sunroom, possibly an early addition, spans two floor-to-ceiling window surrounds with glass doors and shutters, one off the dining room, the other the parlor. A modern kitchen with green cabinets and butcher block cabinets has been has been tucked into a room off the dining room. Some moldings have been left in place. Upstairs, the bedrooms appear generously sized. An updated full bath includes a checkerboard floor, a claw foot tub, and 19th century marble sink with built-in cabinetry. The house sits on just a smidge over half an acre of land with plenty of opportunity for a gardener with vision. There are some large trees, a driveway, and the picturesque church as a neighbor. There is front lawn space as well, and a white picket fence stretches across part, but not all, of the sidewalk. The surrounding blocks are filled with architectural gems, including the Captain David Crawford House, headquarters of the Historical Society of Newburgh Bay and the Highlands. If you want to check out Newburgh during the holiday season, there are still some holiday festivities happening downtown, from gingerbread making to a cocktail and mocktail crawl. The house last sold in January for $635,000. After the renovation, it is back on the market asking $789,000. James Dundon of Compass is the listing agent and one of the owners.

Offer him anything at all then toss him overboard the night before you leave Antarctica.

Two people are dead after having fallen asleep in their seats on the subway in NYC the last few days. A man on the 7 train in Queens woke up at 12:35 AM to somebody trying to rob him, and a brawl broke out involving several of the robber's friends and eventually the man who had been sleeping was stabbed in the chest, and he died at the hospital. Someone else was slashed in the face, but so far nobody has been arrested, I believe. I think this was a day after a woman who was asleep on an F train that was idling at the station in Coney Island at 7:30 AM had her clothes set on fire by a man using a cigarette lighter who calmly walked away as she burned to death. The NYPD was able to get a good face pic and released it and three teenagers spotted him that evening and called the cops. I can imagine the kind of RAGE their families must be feeling on top of the grief they feel. I guess there are advantages to using a walker and feeling too uncomfortable and unsafe to travel any way other than by car. RIP

They shout all the time. They recently shouted about Pete's "fake" girlfriend.

There’s a Keurig machine in some 40 million households in the U.S. Single-serve coffee brewing systems — which allow consumers to make just one cup of coffee at a time by feeding a pod into a slot and pressing a button — have soared in popularity since the early 2000s. Inevitably, this leads to a lot of trash. Every cup of java brewed creates a conundrum: what to do with the coffee pod that produced it. To start, can it be recycled? The answer, in Keurig’s case, is not really. The company’s single-use coffee pods — also known as K-cups — are made of polypropylene plastic, a material that experts warn is not as recyclable as consumers have been led to think. Two of the country’s largest recycling companies have said they do not accept K-cup pods, and one environmental group calculated that if you lined up all the K-cup pods in the world’s landfills side by side, they would comfortably circle the globe 10 times. A new coffee pod company claims to have developed a solution to Keurig’s plastic waste problem. Cambio Roasters, which launched in September, offers a Keurig-compatible coffee pod that’s made out of aluminum — which, unlike plastic, is infinitely recyclable. Cambio is led by a team of former Keurig employees, including founder and CEO Kevin Hartley, who was previously a chief innovation officer at Keurig Green Mountain, as the company was formerly known. “This is, in our view, the most exciting innovation in coffee since the K-cup,” said Hartley during a launch-day press call for Cambio. Experts, however, aren’t sure that Cambio understands just how big of a problem K-cups pose to curbside recycling systems. “Really, plastic is just not a good option,” said Jeremy Pare, a visiting professor of business and environment at Duke University’s Nicholas School of the Environment. But even aluminum, with all its benefits, is “still going to have issues.” Part of the difficulty of creating a truly recyclable packaging option — for just about any consumer good — is the severely fragmented nature of the American recycling landscape. “There are over 10,000 recycling systems in the U.S.,” said Pare, who is also a member of the Plastic Pollution Working Group at Duke’s Nicholas Institute for Energy, Environment, and Sustainability. “And yet, at the same time, only a quarter of the population has access to recycling in the U.S.” (Pare lives in one such community with no formal recycling program, just outside of Augusta, Maine.) In the U.S., the question of whether something is recyclable can only accurately be answered on a local level. Another problem is the plastic composition of most K-cup pods. Sustainability concerns have followed the Keurig brand closely as it has scaled. (Once a small startup, Keurig was acquired by Green Mountain Coffee Roasters in 2006; in 2018, Keurig Green Mountain merged with Dr Pepper Snapple to become Keurig Dr Pepper.) Keurig started selling K-cups pods made of polypropylene in 2016, with the goal of making 100 percent of K-cup pods “recyclable” by 2020. But the company has run into trouble for touting recyclability. In 2018, a California resident sued Keurig for claiming that K-cup pods could be recycled after the foil lid was removed and the coffee grounds were rinsed or dumped out — which resulted in Keurig agreeing to pay $10 million in a class-action settlement. And in September of this year, the Securities and Exchange Commission charged Keurig for falsely claiming the pods “can be effectively recycled.” (Keurig settled the claim by agreeing to pay a $1.5 million penalty fee.) Hartley, who left Keurig in 2017, knew consumers wanted a plastic-free K-cup option — and after years of prototypes and testing, he and his team settled on aluminum as an easier-to-recycle alternative. Aluminum is also impervious to oxygen, which causes coffee to lose its flavor over time. “Whenever we brew a cup of coffee, it tastes exactly as the roastmaster intended,” said Hartley. Cambio isn’t the first single-serve coffee company to opt to ditch plastic or invest in circularity. Nespresso, a popular single-serve coffee company that’s owned by the Nestlé Group, has made its capsules out of aluminum for over 30 years. In 2020, Nespresso announced that its pods would be made of 80 percent recycled aluminum, and it claims its global recycling rate is 32 percent. But Nespresso pods only work in Nespresso machines. Because Cambio coffee pods are designed to work with Keurig models, Hartley hopes to give consumers what they want “without having to buy a new brewer.” Cambio also allows users to peel back the lid and dump out the grounds before recycling. Nespresso pod lids are difficult to remove, and the company instructs users to recycle their pods as is, grounds and all — but they’re only approved for curbside recycling in New York City and Jersey City, where a designated recycling contractor cleans them out before reprocessing them. (Nespresso consumers can also mail used pods back to the manufacturer for recycling, or drop them off at Nespresso stores.) Unfortunately, swapping plastic for aluminum doesn’t automatically solve K-cup pods’ recyclability crisis, experts say. What really prevents coffee pods, regardless of what they’re made of, from having a second life is their size. After collection, recyclables are sorted at a facility known as a materials recovery facility, or MRF. MRFs aren’t equipped to collect small items — a common rule of thumb is that they can’t handle anything smaller than a credit card — and so small objects placed in recycling bins often wind up getting sent to landfills. “The K-cups are so small that they fall through” the machinery in many recycling facilities, said Pare. “So other than separating” coffee pods from the waste stream “individually, there’s no good way to recycle them.” Cambio’s approach to working around this is two-pronged. First, the company says it wants consumers to stack used K-cup pods together — and then pinch them closed — to overcome many recycling facilities’ size requirements. Three or more used K-cup pods should create a piece of aluminum large enough to fit through the machinery at recycling facilities, says Hartley. (These instructions don’t currently appear on Cambio’s packaging or website.) Cambio says it is also developing a device that will make this stacking and pinching of used K-cups easier. “Think of this device as an easy way for consumers to bundle cups together and then toss into their recycling bin,” said Hartley. He added that the company has filed for patents for second-generation Cambio pods that can be “snapped” together after use. Jan Dell, a chemical engineer and an environmental nonprofit founder, said, “I don’t think aluminum pods are a meaningful improvement,” citing their small size as a barrier to being accepted and sorted via curbside recycling systems. “Think of the pods like confetti: impossible to collect back up.” Cambio disagreed with Dell’s characterization of the switch to aluminum, pointing out that currently, essentially no single-use plastic pods are recycled, whereas aluminum can be endlessly recycled. “To Cambio and consumers, these two facts are meaningful.” Hartley also shared that the work of ensuring Cambio’s compatibility with recycling programs across the country is “ongoing.” The company is planning to run tests with MRFs in specific markets “as soon as feasible.” In response to a request for comment, a spokesperson from Keurig Dr Pepper said, “We know our consumers want simplicity and less waste.” They shared that the company has “been lightweighting our pods to reduce the amount of plastic used,” as well as “increasing options for recycling them,” including a soon-to-be-launched program in which customers will be able to mail their used pods to Keurig for recycling. The spokesperson also said the company is “continually exploring” more “sustainable packaging” options. Dell leads the nonprofit The Last Beach Cleanup, which is focused on fighting plastic pollution. The ultimate solution to Keurig’s plastic footprint, she said, is a product that eliminates “the need to collect anything back from customers,” like a fiber-based pod that can be composted along with the grounds. Keurig is currently testing a plant-based pod format that won’t have any plastic or aluminum, and the company expects it to be certified compostable, according to the Keurig Dr Pepper spokesperson. Hartley said he worked on that product for many years, calling it “an amazing innovation.” But these coffee pucks, which are not yet available for sale, will require an entirely new machine to run. “It’s going to take a long time before America is going to throw away 40 or 50 million brewers and buy 40 or 50 million new brewers,” said Hartley. He added, referring to his time with Keurig, “I won’t tell publicly how much money we spent to start from zero and have 50 million American households loving their Keurigs. But it’s a big lift, and it takes decades.” In an interview with The Atlantic in 2015, the inventor of the K-cup said, “I feel bad sometimes that I ever did it.” As the market for single-serve coffee brewers grows, so will its impact on the environment, unless its products are somehow wildly reimagined and redesigned. Keurigs and Nespresso machines are marketed as both convenient and luxurious, a combination that is likely to keep drawing in new market segments. But eco-conscious coffee brewers can rest easy in the knowledge that you don’t need a Keurig or Nespresso machine to brew one cup of coffee at a time; any coffee maker can be single-serve if you use only the water and coffee grounds you actually need. No pods required — maybe just a filter. https://gizmodo.com/why-creating-a-truly-recyclable-keurig-pod-is-so-hard-2000541116 It wouldn't bother me if global warming and increasing droughts destroy all the coffee plantations in the world. Other than Haagen Dazs, there is no need for the whole coffee industrial complex.

The Cubs have signed veteran catcher Carlos Pérez to a minor league deal, according to the transactions tracker on Pérez’s MLB.com profile page. Pérez, 34, should not be confused with his younger brother and fellow catcher Carlos Pérez. Wilmer Flores' younger brother is a pitcher named Wilmer Flores. Rougned Odor's brother is named Rougned Odor. I don’t understand how you’re supposed to yell at the right kid if you’re Latino and fertile…

I told @jjkrkwood to take a picture of himself and send it to me: Get into the holiday spirit! Wear a Santa hat to White Castle for a free small coffee or soft drink. Dress in a full Santa suit or festive costume to score three FREE Original Sliders. Offer limited to one per customer, per day.

I'm not sure a philistine who cannot appreciate the gastronomic delight that is a hot dog should be lecturing others about American food.

That was sheer financial malpractice on their part to not consider Amazon years before it was founded.

I keep re-watching the second half of the Christmas episode. It is funny and sweet and just makes me smile.