samhexum

A Florida man was arrested Friday after he reportedly punched an ATM because it “was giving him too much money” during an incident in November. Michael Joseph Oleksik, 23, was charged with criminal mischief after Wells Fargo requested Cocoa Police press charges against the man. Law enforcement told Florida Today that Oleksik was seen on surveillance footage “standing at the ATM, pummeling the electronic teller’s touch screen on Nov. 29.” He then reportedly called Wells Fargo and apologized for the damage done to the teller machine, but said he was “angry the ATM was giving him too much money and he did not know what to do.” A Wells Fargo branch in Cocoa, Fla., requested that police press charges against Oleksik, who was booked into the Brevard County Jail.

http://synd.imgsrv.uclick.com/comics/co/2017/co171227.gif

Unfortunately...

A Brooklyn judge has ordered a divorce lawyer into a padded room. The jurist ruled that the loudmouth lawyer has been terrorizing her neighbors at her ritzy condo building so much — blasting classical music and shrieking things such as “Obama is a murderer!” and “Rape!” around the clock — that her pad has to be soundproofed. The order is “very unusual — but it’s a testament to just how crazy she is,’’ condo board member Dennis Sughrue, also a lawyer, told The Post about cacophonous counsel Andrea J. Coleman. Coleman initially had been fined $31,000 for disobeying a court order to keep quiet. Justice Edgar Walker then came up with an alternative: He would drop the fine if Coleman allowed the board’s acoustical engineer to soundproof her fifth-floor pad at 1 Grand Army Plaza. In fact, Walker didn’t give Coleman much choice. If she refuses, the judge has given the board of the Richard Meier-designed tower permission to install the soundproofing “by forcible entry.” The board is waiting to approach Coleman with its plan because its sound engineer is still devising it, a building source said. Coleman, 59, started “chronic screaming, ranting and yelling” about two years ago, according to the board’s October 2016 lawsuit. She bought her one-bedroom unit for $765,000 in 2010. Similar units in the building now sell for over $1 million. “The screaming and yelling begins as early as 6:30 a.m. and recurs throughout the day and often as late as midnight,” her next-door neighbor, Craig Spolsky, said in an affidavit. Her “voice can be clearly heard from inside my apartment. She uses words like ‘murder,’ ‘rape,’ ‘killing’ and ‘killing myself,’ and has apparently even mentioned my name in the same breath as these threatening words,” Spolsky said. “ ‘Obama, the murderer in chief’ — that’s a phrase that she often says,” Spolsky added. “The horrifying nature, tremendously loud volume, and upsetting substance of [Coleman’s] yelling are present nearly every single day.” He and other residents have called the cops on Coleman several times, but the police claim they can’t do anything unless they can see that she’s a harm to herself or others, Spolsky said. “If [Coleman] is not going to stop yelling and screaming — and it is clear she will not — there is no other way that her neighbors can co-exist with her on the same floor” without soundproofing, he said. “There have been times when I have actually fallen off of my chair after being abruptly startled by defendant’s yelling.” At a court hearing in January 2017, Coleman claimed her neighbors have provoked her behavior. She said they want her out because her unit is in foreclosure. She did not return messages seeking comment.

Diners beware: The pod people may be coming to a restaurant near you. Faced with dwindling traffic and rising labor costs, a few nationwide chains including Outback Steakhouse and Red Robin Gourmet Burgers have begun rolling out what some call “restaurant pods” — kitchens that cook up orders for delivery only. At the Red Robin Express on Chicago’s bustling North Michigan Avenue, more than a few hungry diners have knocked on the door, only to walk away empty-handed and confused. That’s because the 2,000-square-foot space — which had been one of Red Robin’s Burger Works locations last year — has been converted into a commissary that churns out burgers that get distributed by delivery guys only. The customer seating area has been ripped out, and waitstaff need not apply. “Labor costs across the country are going up, and that’s clearly putting pressure on all restaurants,” says Jason Rusk, Red Robin’s vice president of innovation. “Ideally, we’d like to go into low-rent warehouse spaces with our delivery concept.” In the meantime, the North Michigan Avenue restaurant pod — the company’s only retail location that has been converted to a delivery-only facility — is an experiment that shows a lot of promise, according to Rusk. “This allowed us to go into an urban market where a 6,500-square-foot restaurant couldn’t go,” Rusk told The Post. While most of Red Robin’s 565 restaurants are in the suburbs near shopping centers, the Colorado-based chain believes its menu is a good fit for bigger metro areas where rents and wages are forbiddingly high. Big chains are trying radical moves as a growing number of Americans would rather dine in than out. The so-called restaurant recession has hit casual dining chains especially hard this year, shuttering hundreds of eateries, including up to 135 Applebee’s Grill and Bar, 16 Papa Murphy’s, 30 Pollo Tropical and 40 Joe’s Crab Shack eateries, to name a few. Bloomin’ Brands, the owner of Outback Steakhouse, opened its second delivery-only restaurant in Florida this month and is planning to open three more in the Sunshine State early next year. The takeout stores combine the menus of Outback Steakhouse with Carrabba’s Italian Grill, another chain Bloomin’ owns. The Tampa, Fla.-based company said in a statement the idea is to “expand our reach into new areas and existing areas where we think off-premise has the largest potential.” Silicon Valley thinks so, too. While Uber and Amazon plow aggressively into food delivery, startups like Instacart and DoorDash have raised more than $8.4 billion in venture capital over the past six years. That’s more than every restaurant IPO of the last 16 years, according to restaurant consultancy Aaron Allen & Associates. This year, Deliveroo, a deep-pocketed delivery outfit based in the UK, launched more than 100 kitchens in London and Australia that operate out of shipping containers. The pods are located under bridges and in parking garages and unused industrial spaces. New York City may be Deliveroo’s next pod target, insiders say. In May, it acquired Maple, a gourmet delivery service that catered to Manhattan’s lunch-at-your-desk crowd from a kitchen inside a warehouse downtown. “Companies that are interested in these pods are hiring us to evaluate them,” said consultant Aaron Allen. “It’s a disruptive technology that costs one-tenth of what it takes to open a traditional restaurant.” But not every restaurateur embraces it. “These moves are a sign of desperation,” said Zane Tankel, chief executive of Apple Metro, which owns 36 Applebee’s Grill and Bars in the New York Metro area. “They are trying to eliminate the labor costs while still maintaining a revenue stream,” Tankel told The Post. “But it defeats the entire concept of casual dining.”

Wrong. My niece & nephew are in from college, plus they just got a dog I haven't met yet.

Uber, the ride-hailing company, has had a bad year — capped off this month by the murder of a British diplomat by an on-duty Uber driver, and, less tragically, a European court determination that it’s a transportation company, not a tech company. Uber’s woes wouldn’t be a surprise to the company’s investors if they hadn’t assumed that technical innovation equals financial success. To the average Uber customer, the company is successful. Seven years ago, it launched a concept that now seems obvious: Use an app on your phone to hail a car. In New York, Uber has improved the quality of life for people who live far from mass transit and where traditional yellow cabs don’t want to go. It’s also convenient for Manhattanites who don’t want to chance waiting for a cab, particularly at rush hour. None of this, though, guarantees a payoff for the global investors who valued the company at $69 billion early this year. Tech is colliding with the real world — and the real world, for the moment, is winning, with Uber’s value down an estimated 30 percent in the past few months. Uber’s first problem is government power. For all its pretensions otherwise, Uber is nothing new: It is, as the European Court just ruled and as New York City has long held, a for-hire car service, subject to all the local rules around the world that govern such services. The fact that Uber makes taking a car easier and cheaper actually means it needs more regulation, not less. As Bruce Scaller, former deputy traffic commissioner at the city’s Transportation Department, just noted in a report out last week, cheaper and more plentiful cars have caused oversaturation. According to Scaller, although total taxi and for-hire car trips in Manhattan’s central business district increased by 15 percent on the average weekday between June 2013 and June 2017, total mileage for these cars in the same area increased by 36 percent. The number of taxi and for-hire vehicles increased by 59 percent, but the number of unoccupied vehicles increased by 81 percent, with each for-hire driver waiting 11 minutes between fares. During the afternoon rush, between 4 p.m. and 6 p.m., 10,000 for-hire vehicles are trawling Manhattan. Taxis and other for-hire cars now account for more than half of daytime traffic on major avenues. The conclusion: The only way Uber and its competitors can make each trip so convenient for its passengers is to flood the streets with empty cars. You may not wait standing on the street for a cab, but now you wait on the street in a black car, behind all of those other black cars. This situation won’t last forever. When Gov. Cuomo unveils his congestion-pricing plan next month, as expected, he’s going to have to tackle Manhattan’s idle Ubers. Roughly the same problem — and solution — exists in other dense cities, Uber’s most lucrative markets. Uber’s second problem, paradoxically, is government weakness. For all of its promise that algorithmic solutions would reduce the need for government-required background checks, Uber needs such checks to keep its customers safe. The driver in Lebanon who strangled British diplomat Rebecca Dykes passed a government-mandated background check despite a criminal record. Places where Uber wants to grow and provide a genuinely needed service — a safe ride home — are also places where fake documents, corruption and unsolved crimes are rife. Uber also has more than its fair share of terrorists in the West, from the driver who committed a sword attack at Buckingham Palace this summer to New York’s bike-path killer, who had previously worked for the service. Uber’s biggest problem, though, is that its technology is not that special. The company has formidable competitors, from Lyft at home to Gett in Britain to Didi in China, which has already won the battle for market share there. Allegations that Uber stole trade secrets and spied on rivals aren’t just indications of the company’s poor culture. They also suggest the company is desperate for some advantage. All this is why Uber lost nearly $1.5 billion last quarter alone, with no indication that it will stop losing money. It’s a risk of capitalism that the world’s savviest investors, from the Saudi Arabian sovereign-wealth fund to the wealthy clients of Goldman Sachs, didn’t grasp. Uber spawned e-hailing — but e-hailing could well outlast Uber. Nicole Gelinas is a contributing editor to the Manhattan Institute’s City Journal.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJr3qVBQrxM

Tracey Ullman has gotten a lot of mileage out of lampooning Judi Dench's status as a 'national treasure'. (Maggie Smith, as well). I agree with GregM about Dolly Parton, and also think Cher is one. It's comforting to know she'll always be there, even after Trump brings about a nuclear holocaust with North Korea... Cher and the cockroaches will be all that's left after the bomb. She's said so herself. Who would you nominate? Not necessarily great talents, just people that have brought joy and entertainment throughout your life.

Another classic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=matOhLD8960 And perhaps you've heard of this one:

Too bad I'm back at the same place 35 years later.

I meant if I needed to do it mid-month. I was in college at that point, and literally needed to take out every penny I could at times.

A lovely ballad: This Jew's favorite song about the resurrection of Christ:

I had that .45 (flip side: ME & LITTLE ANDY). I was sent to Chicago for work for 3 weeks in 1989, that became 7 weeks. I listened to a lot of radio in the car as I worked, and heard a lot of her White Limozeen album, which was a definite attempt to cross over. I loved a few songs from it it, & bought it when I got home. A fun, uptempo song: A lovely ballad: The title song: An adorably sexy duet with Mac Davis:

When applying for my 2018 insurance through the NY State Exchange, I designated myself an organ donor. If anything's still usable, a needy recipient is welcome to it. He/She will probably get a contact high, though. I might as well try to be of more use dead than I've been alive. I'm just full of Christmas cheer tonight.

Two men from Connecticut were arrested in April, 2016 after trying to climb the Brooklyn Bridge in a quest for a "sunrise-over-the-city" photograph. Sean Cody, 26, of Southport and Scott Lockett, 24, of New Canaan were taken into custody soon after the 6 a.m. incident on one of the bridge's beams.

Danke Schoen. Obrigado. Merci. Gracias. (and thanks) :):):):):):):):):):):):):):):) :D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D :cool::cool::cool::cool::cool::cool::cool::cool::cool::cool::cool::cool::cool::cool::cool:

The last time I went to the movies was July 1, 2009. (ICE AGE 3) I used to go often, but then my mobility began being compromised. Now I just don't have the patience or attention span anymore. It's been a few years since I've watched a movie on TV. Have there been any decent movies made in the last eight years? I saw Brokeback Mountain 5 times in theaters. Since then, the only things that tempted me out were the first 2 ICE AGE sequels (the original is my favorite animated movie ever).

I love the harmony between Dolly & Christine Ebersole in this clip. I still have it on a VHS tape somewhere. The singing starts at the 3:50 mark.

I love the harmony between Dolly & Christine Ebersole in this clip. I still have it on a VHS tape somewhere. The singing starts at the 3:50 mark.

I love the harmony between Dolly & Christine Ebersole in this clip. I still have it on a VHS tape somewhere. The singing starts at the 3:50 mark.

I loved his debut album, but it had some heavy themes and was depressing to listen to at times. I never listened to any of his other albums. Page was able to work with some of his musical heroes, including Earth, Wind, and Fire, The Commodores, and Elton John's writing partner, Bernie Taupin. Page's partnership with Taupin yielded the hit singles "We Built This City" (Starship) and "These Dreams" (Heart). Page and Taupin worked together again on Taupin's Tribe album (which also featured Fairweather on guitar) and Page's In the House of Stone and Light album. Page was also the composer behind Go West's big hits "King of Wishful Thinking"(I love that song) and "Faithful". In addition to the aforementioned hits, Page has also written songs with Robbie Robertson, for Tom Jones, for Josh Groban, and many others. Page also played keyboards for Ray Parker, Jr., on the Ghostbusters theme song. In 1994, Page received recognition as a singer and musician with his debut solo album In the House of Stone and Light. The title track, which he wrote after spending some time in reflection on a visit to the Grand Canyon, was a hit in the same year, reaching No. 14 on the Billboard Hot 100. After the success of In the House of Stone and Light, Page took some time for touring and reflection. Both his parents and some dear friends died during the time between his first and second albums. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLpQFSQQmaW64V8xGVvPGGCKtGwCWXXvyJ

Wouldn't that be under the 'fetish' section?

The call came in to police dispatch just after 5 p.m. on a cold November evening in the small Arizona town of St. Johns: There was a body on the front porch of a house. Detective Debbie Neckel fastened her bulletproof vest and headed out. As she and Sgt. Lucas Rodriguez approached the blue two-story home, Neckel fixed her eyes on two people, a teenager and an 8-year-old boy standing nearby. Rodriguez walked toward the house, and Neckel toward the boy, whom she knew from the neighborhood. His arms were outstretched, and he was near tears. "'My dad, my dad. My dad's dead,'" Neckel recalled him saying as she gave her first interview about the case to The Associated Press. "'I think my dad's dead.'" The boy's father, Vincent Romero, 29, was found face-down on the staircase inside. The body on the porch was Romero's friend and co-worker, Timothy Romans, 39, who rented a room there. A swirl of suspects would emerge before a truth was revealed that no one saw coming: The 8-year-old killed both men. The child came home Nov. 5, 2008, and killed his father with a single-shot .22-caliber rifle, holding the bullets in his small hand to reload after each shot. He called to Romans that something was wrong, then shot him, too. Nine years later, the boy is days from his 18th birthday with a chance to move on from a crime that has defined his life. He will sign paperwork Friday freeing him from intensive probation, psychological evaluations, travel restrictions and having his every move monitored. "Things will be fundamentally different," said his attorney, Ron Wood. The Associated Press isn't identifying the teen because of his age at the time of the shootings. The transition will be easier because of the support network he built since pleading guilty to negligent homicide in Romans' death, said Wood and Apache County Attorney Michael Whiting, who prosecuted the case. The charge for killing his father was dropped. Whiting said at the time that it was in the boy's best interest not to be forced to acknowledge killing his father. The boy first was held at a youth treatment center near Phoenix, then moved to a group home and then a foster home. Besides a trio of probation violations when he was 12, he's avoided trouble. He will likely stay in the foster home beyond his 18th birthday and continue treatment until he's 21, Whiting said. His probation officer declined to discuss the case, and periodic evaluations of the boy that might shed light on his treatment are sealed. Whiting said he could not discuss specifics but noted that several people have gone out of their way to ensure the boy gets help. At one point, a psychiatrist who treated him offered to take him in. Romero's mother, Liz Castillo, has been the boy's biggest supporter, regularly attending hearings and visiting him. She declined to comment but said early on she would not give up on her grandson. The boy initially told authorities he found the men dead when he got home from school. His role might have gone undiscovered much longer if Romans had not been on the phone with his wife while he waited for Romero to grab a car part, Neckel said. Romero went in, saw his son with a gun and scolded him for getting it from underneath his bed. The boy ran upstairs, turning and shooting his father as he followed. Romans cut short his conversation with his wife, Tanya, when the boy called for him. "Tim, I need you to come in here," he said, according to court transcripts. "Something's wrong with Dad." Tanya Romans urged police to talk to the boy. Still, no one thought he was a suspect. But authorities came to think he might have witnessed the crime and was in danger. Neckel was the lead investigator, promoted to detective a day before the shootings. She and sheriff's Cmdr. Matrese Avila interviewed the child, who confessed in a videotaped interview released early on by prosecutors. The nation watched as the boy — sitting in an oversized chair, his feet dangling — gave conflicting accounts before admitting to killing both men. He buried his head in his jacket at the end, saying: "I'm going to go to juvie." Neckel told the AP this month that when they first started quizzing him, she believed the cheerful boy with a singsong voice was covering for someone. She started to realize the truth after about 45 minutes, and when she watched the tape, it sank in. A key moment, she said, is when the boy demonstrated how one of the bodies shook and he kicked it with his foot. "We had one focus — literally one focus — to get the name of the killer," she said. "It was supposed to be an adult. And we were supposed to go out and save the day and get (the boy) out of danger." Neckel knew the boy from her neighborhood in the town of about 3,500 near the New Mexico border. He was the child who jumped on the trampoline with his cousin, played outside with his dog, tried to coax a cat from a culvert, called her "Mrs. Neckel" and said, "Have a good day at work" when she pulled out of her driveway. After their interview, she went into the restroom and cried. Her regret, she said, was not including him in her suspect pool from the start. No motive was revealed, but the boy mentioned he was spanked for not bringing home some school papers. Neckel said the papers were a behavioral report from his teacher. Romero and his wife, Tiffany, told the boy he would be spanked once for each day he forgot them, Neckel said. That day he would have received four swats. A woman who answered a cellphone listed for Tiffany said it was the wrong number. Her father, Jeff DeVall, hung up when reached on his cell. Police investigated possible abuse but found nothing that would have warranted charges, Neckel said. Tanya Romans thinks the justice system forgot about her husband. She said she was asked to submit any concerns for an upcoming hearing but she and their two daughters decided it's pointless. She's well aware the teen's birthday is Dec. 29. Hers is, too. "At the beginning, people would say, 'Time heals,' and I was thinking, 'How?'" she said. "All I can say is, by the grace of God, my kids have been OK." She remembers Tim Romans through the personalities of her four grandchildren, hears him in the raspy voice of the one named after him and sees him in the face of another. For Neckel, she developed what she called an unreasonable fear of children for about a year after the boy was charged. But she said seeing her grandchildren on the holidays shortly after the shootings helped her cope. She spent her free time online researching kids who kill, trying to better understand what happened in the most difficult case of her police career. She found promise in stories of two people who killed as teenagers and later became a college professor and a crime novelist. "I can't give up on a kid," Neckel said. "I hope that releasing him isn't the worst mistake ever made. But he was a little kid. You have to give him a chance."