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A long-lost mural that once adorned an iconic Queens restaurant has finally been brought home — fifty years after it seemingly vanished into thin air. The sprawling, 39-foot Andre Durenceau masterpiece, long thought to have been destroyed when the Howard Johnson’s in Queens was torn down, had been quietly living for decades in a Massachusetts basement. “Many preservationists thought the mural was demolished, but I was searching for it for many, many years,” Michael Perlman, founder of the Rego-Forest Preservation Council, told The Post. Perlman, 42, was operating on little more than hope that the mural had somehow survived when he was called last month to make a 500-mile trip to rescue the long-lost art piece from the cellar of a former restaurant executive. The unnamed Art Deco artwork — which depicts several dancing women and horses jumping through ribbon-like hoops — had been the centerpiece of the HoJo’s rotunda in Rego Park for some 40 years. French-born artist Durenceau had been commissioned to replicate his imagery and style from his other pieces, specifically from the paintings he crafted for the futuristic 1939 Worlds’ Fair, which took place just 2 miles from the mid-Queens restaurant. Despite the mural being a well-loved staple of the community, there seemed to be little interest in saving it when the Gregorian-style building was ordered to be leveled in 1974 — clearing the way for former executive Hugh Kelly to claim the artwork. The Gregorian-style Howard Johnson’s in Rego Park stood from 1939 to 1974 “Realizing the uniqueness of the mural, I asked the construction VP if there were any plans to save the mural. His response was ‘No, but feel free to remove it if you want it,'” Kelly, 90, said, according to Perlman. The former executive and his then-teenage sons carefully tore down the Durenceau original from the plaster wall, rolled it into three separate sections on carpet rollers and carried it to the family’s home in Weston, Massachusetts, where it remained relatively untouched for five decades. Throughout the last half-century, Kelly had no idea it was considered a lost mural — and didn’t even know who the painter was. It surfaced last month when Kelly decided to offload the artwork and called in a keen-eyed appraiser — who immediately recognized the familiar Art Deco style and nods to the 1939 World’s Fair. In researching the artwork, Brett Downer stumbled upon Perlman’s blogs and book, “Legendary Locals of Forest Hills and Rego Park” — which chronicled his hunt for Durenceau’s paintings. “I thought the best thing was to see if we could get them to go back home,” Downer told The Post. I remember all of these places. The kiddie ferris wheel at Fairy Land was always broken. “The value is going back where they belong. People can revisit 1939 in a sense, by seeing them when they’re installed somewhere.” The mural itself is worth several thousand dollars, Downer estimates, but would require upwards of $30,000 in restoration costs. The three cases were kept in “well preserved” condition, he continued, but five decades in an arid basement have taken a clear toll on the paintings. Kelly ultimately decided to donate the mural to Perlman on the condition the preservationist facilitate bringing the mural back to the Big Apple — a mission Perlman was eager to accept. With just 24 hours notice, Perlman organized two movers and friend Alan McIntyre to join him on a single-day, 500-mile round trip on Sept. 22 to pick up the mural and bring it back to a secure storage facility east of Queens. They also brought back several other HoJo artifacts bequeathed by Kelly, including a “Landmark for Hungry Americans” sign, a framed nationwide restaurant map and three sets of letters that were salvaged from varied size trucks that once transported food and supplies to HoJo locations. “It was miraculous how something so rare and beautiful that I was searching for came to me. It feels as if the spirit of Andre Durenceau is grateful, as well, and was communicating with me,” Perlman said. In an ideal world, Perlman would love to see the mural resurrected in a replica of the Rego Park Howard Johnson’s, which he believes should have been landmarked to save it from demolition. But because that dream is admittedly far-fetched, Perlman hopes to broker a deal with a Queens-based museum or gallery that would finance restoration and give the mural a permanent home. The Queens Museum is at the top of his list, considering the building was erected for the very same World’s Fair that Durenceau provided his artwork for. “I love the five boroughs, I love anything beautiful and meaningful in history,” said Perlman. “I always say creativity is the cultivation of our soul and I feel it’s very, very important for younger generations to be imaginative and simultaneously master the art of overall art and craftsman, otherwise it’s lost forever — like the mural almost was.” Perlman hopes to find the mural a permanent home in a Queens-based museum or gallery

A long-lost mural that once adorned an iconic Queens restaurant has finally been brought home — fifty years after it seemingly vanished into thin air. The sprawling, 39-foot Andre Durenceau masterpiece, long thought to have been destroyed when the Howard Johnson’s in Queens was torn down, had been quietly living for decades in a Massachusetts basement. “Many preservationists thought the mural was demolished, but I was searching for it for many, many years,” Michael Perlman, founder of the Rego-Forest Preservation Council, told The Post. Perlman, 42, was operating on little more than hope that the mural had somehow survived when he was called last month to make a 500-mile trip to rescue the long-lost art piece from the cellar of a former restaurant executive. The unnamed Art Deco artwork — which depicts several dancing women and horses jumping through ribbon-like hoops — had been the centerpiece of the HoJo’s rotunda in Rego Park for some 40 years. French-born artist Durenceau had been commissioned to replicate his imagery and style from his other pieces, specifically from the paintings he crafted for the futuristic 1939 Worlds’ Fair, which took place just 2 miles from the mid-Queens restaurant. Despite the mural being a well-loved staple of the community, there seemed to be little interest in saving it when the Gregorian-style building was ordered to be leveled in 1974 — clearing the way for former executive Hugh Kelly to claim the artwork. The Gregorian-style Howard Johnson’s in Rego Park stood from 1939 to 1974 “Realizing the uniqueness of the mural, I asked the construction VP if there were any plans to save the mural. His response was ‘No, but feel free to remove it if you want it,'” Kelly, 90, said, according to Perlman. The former executive and his then-teenage sons carefully tore down the Durenceau original from the plaster wall, rolled it into three separate sections on carpet rollers and carried it to the family’s home in Weston, Massachusetts, where it remained relatively untouched for five decades. Throughout the last half-century, Kelly had no idea it was considered a lost mural — and didn’t even know who the painter was. It surfaced last month when Kelly decided to offload the artwork and called in a keen-eyed appraiser — who immediately recognized the familiar Art Deco style and nods to the 1939 World’s Fair. In researching the artwork, Brett Downer stumbled upon Perlman’s blogs and book, “Legendary Locals of Forest Hills and Rego Park” — which chronicled his hunt for Durenceau’s paintings. “I thought the best thing was to see if we could get them to go back home,” Downer told The Post. I remember all of these places. The kiddie ferris wheel at Fairy Land was always broken. “The value is going back where they belong. People can revisit 1939 in a sense, by seeing them when they’re installed somewhere.” The mural itself is worth several thousand dollars, Downer estimates, but would require upwards of $30,000 in restoration costs. The three cases were kept in “well preserved” condition, he continued, but five decades in an arid basement have taken a clear toll on the paintings. Kelly ultimately decided to donate the mural to Perlman on the condition the preservationist facilitate bringing the mural back to the Big Apple — a mission Perlman was eager to accept. With just 24 hours notice, Perlman organized two movers and friend Alan McIntyre to join him on a single-day, 500-mile round trip on Sept. 22 to pick up the mural and bring it back to a secure storage facility east of Queens. They also brought back several other HoJo artifacts bequeathed by Kelly, including a “Landmark for Hungry Americans” sign, a framed nationwide restaurant map and three sets of letters that were salvaged from varied size trucks that once transported food and supplies to HoJo locations. “It was miraculous how something so rare and beautiful that I was searching for came to me. It feels as if the spirit of Andre Durenceau is grateful, as well, and was communicating with me,” Perlman said. In an ideal world, Perlman would love to see the mural resurrected in a replica of the Rego Park Howard Johnson’s, which he believes should have been landmarked to save it from demolition. But because that dream is admittedly far-fetched, Perlman hopes to broker a deal with a Queens-based museum or gallery that would finance restoration and give the mural a permanent home. The Queens Museum is at the top of his list, considering the building was erected for the very same World’s Fair that Durenceau provided his artwork for. “I love the five boroughs, I love anything beautiful and meaningful in history,” said Perlman. “I always say creativity is the cultivation of our soul and I feel it’s very, very important for younger generations to be imaginative and simultaneously master the art of overall art and craftsman, otherwise it’s lost forever — like the mural almost was.” Perlman hopes to find the mural a permanent home in a Queens-based museum or gallery

Look out, New York: There's a best new Chinese duck dish in town The Hong Kong-style roasted fowl at the new Cha Cha Tang is one of the best Chinese duck dishes in the city. The restaurant is a winning collaboration between owner John McDonald and partner Wilson Tang. Tang was famously the guiding force behind the revival of famed-but-tired Nom Wah Tea Parlor on Doyers Street in 2010. Cha Cha Tang isn’t a dim sum place like Nom Wah, though. It’s a full-on Cantonese-inspired place rooted in tradition with only a few modern touches. It puts the dazzle back in the block where Sixth Avenue meets West Houston Street, which lost most of its juice when Da Silvano closed seven years ago. The comfy-if-noisy, 80-seat location with windows facing the street was previously McDonald’s Hancock Street. McDonald also owns ever-popular Lure Fish Bar, Bowery Meat Co. and Mexican Bar Tulix. He once owned Chinatown Brasserie on Lafayette Street. It ran out of steam in 2013, and he’s been itching to open a new Chinese spot ever since. In August, he and Tang turned Hancock Street into a twice-a-week pop-up called Cha Cha Tang. It was such a hit, they decided to transform the place all week long. They made some tweaks to the dining room, adding red and pink tablecloths, some new upholstery and wall coverings and vintage Chinese photos. But the changes are subtle. “We didn’t want it to be overly themed in an aggressive manner,” McDonald said. Cha Cha Tang offers some familiar dim sum fare, such as plump crystal shrimp dumplings sparked with chili oil, but the similarity to Nom Wah ends there. Large-portion “chef’s specials” are the menu’s heart. Chef Doron Wong, a veteran of several New York Chinese places, runs a tight kitchen ship. Everything I had arrived freshly made and skillfully executed. The Cantonese roasted duck ($110 and enough for three or four depending on appetites, also available in half size for $55) is the must-order dish. Like Peking duck, it’s served with thin wheat pancakes, scallions and Hoisin sauce. But Wong said that where the Peking style emphasizes crackling skin achieved through hanging birds upside down to air-dry, the Cantonese style amps up the flavor by marinating the fowl overnight in Chinese five-spice, licorice root and ginger. After cooking, it’s glazed with red vinegar. The meat is slightly fattier and considerably thicker cut than Peking duck usually is. The result is a deep, intense gamy flavor. It’s so good that my party-of-four gobbled some of it off the plate without waiting to roll it into the pancakes. They usually have eighteen ducks on hand daily and often sell out. “But people can call to ask us to reserve one in advance,” McDonald said. Other menu highlights include wonderfully tactile XO jasmine fried rice with scallops, shrimps, lobster and crispy garlic. I also loved smoky, creamy Macao-style chicken curry made with coconut milk. “Original” egg roll was the best I’ve had in decades, grease-free inside a crisp egg crepe. Brunch is coming this weekend — “a big part of our concept,” McDonald said. It will include the dessert that’s also on the dinner menu: griddled Hong Kong French Toast with condensed milk and sweet cream butter. A “bloody Mary cocktail cart will move through the room,” he said. But for me the French toast, sweet, creamy and crunchy, is intoxicating enough — though not as much as the duck.

Actually, they flew down to Florida to check in with my niece, who works at Disney. In fact, they gave their Mets tickets for tonight to their friends

Mitzi Gaynor, the leggy entertainer whose saucy vitality and blond beauty graced the big screen in South Pacific and on Las Vegas stages and in spectacular TV specials, has died. She was 93. Gaynor, who received top billing over The Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show on Feb. 16, 1964, and was famed costume designer Bob Mackie's first celebrity client, died Oct. 17 of natural causes, her team announced in a statement. Neither Gloria nor Janet Gaynor have yet commented.

Dust. Accolades. Free t-shirts I'll never wear.

A Russian man may have survived for two months drifting in an inflatable boat in the Pacific Ocean because he was so fat, his ex-wife has said. Mikhail Pichugin was rescued by fishermen on a trawler called “Angel” on Monday evening after a 66-day ordeal that killed his brother and his nephew. A video of his rescue off Russia’s far east coast showed the 46-year-old looking disoriented and weak. “I don’t have much strength,” he said as he bobbed up and down in his grey inflatable boat on the Sea of Okhotsk. A red makeshift flag fluttered behind him. In the video, the fishermen throw Mr Pichugin a rope and haul him to safety. The bodies of his brother Sergei, 49, and nephew Ilya, 15, were still on the boat. Yekaterina Aksenova, Mr Pichugin’s ex-wife, told Russian media that he had been a portly 100kg (220 pounds) when he set off on his fishing trip but by the time he was rescued, he had lost half his body weight. She said that Mr Pichugin’s belly may have saved him. “It’s a kind of miracle,” she said because the men had only taken enough food and water to last two weeks. “The boat was reliable. He bought it specifically to go to Sakhalin to fish and for travelling.” Ms Aksenova said that contact with the fishing party was lost shortly after they set off from one of the Shantar Islands off mainland Russia to return to the large island of Sakhalin, roughly 200 miles away, where Mr Pichugin was working as a driver. After his rescue, Mr Pichugin was taken to the city of Magadan. Videos showed him being stretchered into a hospital and later sitting wrapped in blankets looking gaunt and sunburnt in a chair. Yury Lednev, the chief doctor of the regional hospital, told Russian news agency RIA Novosti, that his condition was “more or less stable” but he was likely to have suffered from hypothermia. The rescuers also brought back the bodies and the inflatable boat, which was being examined by investigators. Mr Pichugin had tied the bodies of his nephew and brother onto the side of the boat so that they wouldn’t be washed away and used their life jackets to signal for rescue. A screengrab from a video showing Mr Pichugin moments before he is rescued Investigators later told Russian news agencies that Mr Pichugin could be charged with negligence and face up to seven years in prison if they decide that the hunting party set off for their expedition with inadequate kits. Mr Pichugin and his nephew and brother had planned the trip for a year but their engine cut out as they set off on their return journey. They tried to row to shore but were overwhelmed by the waves and dragged out to sea. Baza, a Telegram channel considered close to Russia’s security forces, said that the party only had 20 litres of drinking water and a store of instant noodles and peas to live off. “Ilya Pichugin died in early September, a few days after his 16th birthday. By that time, the travellers had been eating dry noodles, cereals and peas for a month, and the boy could no longer eat the same thing,” it claimed. “His body did not accept this food. As a result, he died of hunger and exhaustion.” Mr Pichugin reportedly told investigators that his brother died three weeks later after he fell overboard into the icy sea as he tried to wash himself. jaws.wav Here Comes Trouble.wav Cartman's a lost boy.wav 911 has been changed.wav fat disgusting slob.wav flattery will get you anywhere.wav Get off the computer.wav go away.wav oh shit.wav you're doing it wrong.wav we've got to stop meeting....wav S.O.B Donald.wav

Nope... he said it wasn't a prosthetic. Cooper Koch finally reveals if he used a prosthetic Cooper Koch finally reveals whether he wore a prosthetic Andy Cohen praised the breakout star as "very blessed" on "Watch What Happens Live" Monday. applause.wav Baby, you're incredible.wav excellent.wav Is it true what they say....wav Please Come Again.wav real & spectacular.wav woo hoo.wav That's the way I like it.wav

One of the biggest home cooking days of the year is quickly approaching, so, yes, we are already planning our Thanksgiving menu. Sure, we might be waiting for Ina Garten’s favorite store-bought French Apple Tart to be back on shelves at Trader Joe’s for an easy dessert to pass off as homemade, but there’s one thing we don’t wait to buy: the Thanksgiving turkey. Thanksgiving is quite literally all about the bird—it’s not called Turkey Day for nothing—so the last thing we want is to head to the grocery store the week before the holiday only to find empty shelves or the tiniest turkeys left over. However, as important as having the turkey is, prepping the turkey correctly on the big day is even more imperative. Everyone knows there’s one surefire way to ruin Thanksgiving: you forget to thaw your turkey in time. Unlike when you fail to pull chicken breasts or ground meat out of the freezer, there’s no quick way to thaw a 10- to 20-pound turkey. So, typically, if you don’t take your turkey out of the freezer at least a few days before Thanksgiving, you can kiss your turkey dinner goodbye—and might want to call in one of those “emergency” Domino’s pizzas, too. However, Butterball has created a fix that solves the most stressful part of Thanksgiving with its new Cook from Frozen Turkey. Butterball Launches Cook From Frozen Turkey Every year, Butterball provides a Turkey Talk-Line to give home cooks answers to their most pressing turkey questions. And, year after year, the most popular questions remain: “How long do you have to thaw a turkey?” and “When should you take the turkey out of the freezer?” So, Butterball’s new, first-of-its-kind innovation doesn’t require any of that prep. The new Cook from Frozen Premium Whole Turkey can go straight from the freezer to the oven in minutes. All you have to do is unwrap the turkey, stick it in a roasting pan, and bake it in a 350-degree F oven for about four hours, or until the internal temperature reaches 170 degrees F in the breast and thigh. The turkey even comes pre-brined, so you don’t have to season or baste it if you don’t want to. It also doesn’t include the neck or giblets, so you won’t have to worry about fishing that bag out of the turkey before roasting. Butterball’s new two-step turkey has a “specially formulated" brine that keeps the bird moist throughout the cooking process and results in the same juicy flavor you expect from a Butterball turkey. “It addresses both the fears and frustrations of cooking a whole turkey—it’s not only simple to roast, but the result delivers a tender, juicy, golden-brown centerpiece. Hosts get all the glory whether they are experienced or not,” said Michelle Lieszkovszky, head of innovation at Butterball. Butterball’s Cook from Frozen Premium Whole Turkey can be found at select retailers, including Walmart, Kroger and its banner stores, Publix, Harris Teeter, and Lowes Foods, nationwide.

YOU MADE A MISTAKE... that pic isn't Austin Barnes.

A group of urban farmers raising fish, growing vegetables and donating their harvest to low-income Brooklyn residents have about six weeks to find a new location before developers reclaim the site to break ground on a new Williamsburg waterfront skyscraper. Oko Farms has operated from a vacant lot along the East River, between Metropolitan Avenue and North Third Street, since May 2021, while property owner Two Trees awaited approval to begin construction of the final piece of its Domino Park megadevelopment a few blocks away. In August, Two Trees notified Oko Farms that it had until the middle of November — the tail-end of the harvest season — to leave the location so the developer could start work on the neighboring project. Oko Farm staff and volunteers say they expected to get the boot eventually, but not so abruptly. They say they have little time to find a new location for their unique aquaponics system, in which plants filter water for around 600 fish that in turn fertilize the crops with their waste. “It’s heartbreaking because we put in a lot of work to build a huge beautiful farm, and over the next month we have to break it down and move it into storage as we find a farm site,” said Sarah Perlmeter, a former Oko Farms operations manager who now serves as an adviser. Perlmeter said Oko had been signing yearlong agreements before Two Trees activated a clause in the contract allowing them to evict the farm with three months' notice. She said farm staff have asked to remain in place until mid-winter in order to finish their harvest and secure a long-term space for their fish and equipment elsewhere. She said Two Trees gave them an extra week and offered to let them store equipment in a nearby structure until March. Two Trees spokesperson Jeremy Soffin said the company needs the lot as a staging area to store construction equipment and that it has already allowed Oko to use the site rent-free since 2021. “We are now preparing to begin construction on the last building at Domino, which will deliver more than 250 units of affordable housing, and require use of the site,” Soffin said. The final Domino building, known for now as Site B, will contain about 1,000 apartments, including the units reserved for low- and moderate-income renters. Work on the complex will begin as New Yorkers contend with a serious housing shortage. Policy experts and city officials say the city needs more apartments to alleviate the housing crunch. Two Trees plans to eventually develop two apartment towers — which are expected to reach 700 and 560 feet respectively — on the stretch of waterfront that includes the lot where Oko Farms now operates. That development, dubbed River Ring, will also include around 1,000 new apartments, most of them priced at market-rate. One-bedroom units in other nearby waterfront buildings currently rent for around $7,000 a month, while two-bedrooms go for up to $11,000 a month, according to StreetEasy listings. Perlmeter said farm staff are hoping to find a permanent location so they don’t have to continue moving their fish to different sites in a short period of time. Multiple moves could kill the fish they raise in the aquaponics system on the property, she said. The farm is looking for its “forever home,” according to a section of its website that describes its relocation needs, which consists of a no- or low-cost lease on a half-acre, ideally part of what the farm calls a “positive community.” Oko employs local young people to work through the winter and grows a diverse mix of crops, with a focus on Afro-Indigenous vegetables and herbs, like okra and collard greens. The pending eviction highlights “the precarity of urban farming in the city,” Perlmeter said. “It’s a real barrier and stumbling block that we’ve faced and people are encountering constantly,” she said. Fish at OKO Farms in Williamsburg

“After two months of browsing real estate websites, I came across this studio in a moment of serendipity,” begins actor Matthew August Jeffers. “I was juggling virtual press interviews for a film release, and in the breaks between each one, I scanned listings. This unit had been on the market for just 13 minutes, and something about the photos captivated me; the cozy private balcony, coupled with the luxury of an in-unit washer and dryer (be still, my heart), was exciting.” Matthew says the “Miss America 1959” sash hanging from the pothos plant is something guests always ask about. He also says the motorized blinds he had installed were a great purchase, "allowing for precise control over the room’s exposure to natural light, which has a huge impact on how the space feels throughout the day." As soon as Matthew saw the listing he texted the real estate agent. “An hour later, I was touring the space, and I turned to him and said, ‘Tell me what I need to do to make this mine.’ Despite already having an application submitted, he encouraged me to apply with a personal letter. A day later, I was holding the keys,” Matthew continues. HeMatthew says it’s the studio apartment’s “intelligent design” that appealed to him most. I had grown increasingly disheartened by the awkward studio layouts in the city, where the kitchen seems to spill into the bedroom. This studio, however, had a natural flow, which appealed to me. Having lived in two- and three-bedroom apartments for over a decade, I had initial reservations about downsizing to a studio. But as someone with dwarfism, I’ve spent my life optimizing small spaces, and I saw this as an exciting challenge to do so once again.” "The piece that unlocked the space for me was my custom piano stand, which sits right at the heart of the apartment. Once that was in place everything else just clicked!" Matthew admits. The apartment had been “freshly cleaned, painted, and outfitted with modern appliances” when Matthew moved in, which he says made it a blank canvas full of potential. “This allowed me to focus my energy on opening up and brightening what initially felt like a small, narrow space. Although I hadn’t previously decorated a studio apartment, I was mindful not to fall into the common trap of over-cluttering.” To transform a closet into a home office, Matthew "removed the door, added playful wallpaper (because who wants to stare at a blank wall?), and scored a $30 desk from the kids' section at IKEA. It’s the first desk that actually fits me! I gave it a little upgrade with a designer lamp from the MoMA store, adding a touch of chic. I take some pretty high-profile meetings in that cozy nook, which feels like a perfect symbol of my journey — making waves in small spaces." Having lived in New York City for over a decade, Matthew was faced with the task of doing a lot of decluttering to fit comfortably in this smaller space. “Having two-bedroom apartments gave me the luxury to showcase a maximalist aesthetic. Transitioning to a minimalist approach was difficult at first — I had to kill my darlings,” he describes. “To ease the process, I paid double rent for a month, giving myself time to thoughtfully curate what truly mattered to me and what I could let go of. But it helped me realize that much of what I held onto was just clutter. Now, my space feels more aligned with my essence.” Matthew says he’s someone “who craves peace and quiet,” which is why he’s made sure to make his studio apartment feel like a personal retreat, what he describes as “functional tranquility. It’s a space where I can recharge and stay productive at the same time. I take meetings, dive into a good book, cook meals with ingredients from the Union Square Farmers Market, edit my photography, care for my plants, and watch great films. It’s my little sanctuary.” Resources LIVING ROOM CBS Ronan Sofa Grey — Havenly Fjallbo TV Stand — IKEA Accent Pillows — Dobbin Street Co-Op Walnut Rolling Tray — Etsy Mid-Century Keyboard Stand — Etsy Dried Flower Bouquet — Stems Brooklyn Invisible Book Wall Shelf — Urban Outfitters Dean Floor Lamp — Target KITCHEN Aquarium — Pacific Aquarium & Plant Wire Mesh Fruit Bowl — MoMA Store Vitamix — Vitamix BEDROOM Classic Percale Sheets — Brooklinen Cotton Quilt — Brooklinen Octopus — IKEA Boho Colorblock Wall Decal — Etsy CLOSET OFFICE Desk Lamp — 2Modern Constellations Wallpaper — Chasing Paper Kids’ Desk — IKEA BATHROOM Dried Flowers and Planter — Flora Good Times Do Epic Shit Neon Sign — Etsy

Season finale tonight. It hasn't been picked up or cancelled yet.

Not specifically the chicken sandwich, but Fatburger has been mentioned before.

Meat meltdown Irate sheriff calls for backup after Burger King messes up his order, as squad cars show up with sirens blaring Cobb County Sheriff Craig Owens was boiling mad after a local Burger King allegedly messed up his Whopper order — so he called for backup, newly released bodycam shows.

NASA is set to launch a spacecraft to Jupiter's moon Europa, considered one of our solar system's most promising spots to search for life beyond Earth, to learn whether this ice-encased world believed to harbor a vast underground ocean is habitable. The U.S. space agency's robotic solar-powered Europa Clipper spacecraft will be launched on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, carrying nine scientific instruments. After traveling 1.8 billion miles (2.9 billion km) in a trip lasting about 5-1/2 years, Europa Clipper is due to enter orbit around Jupiter in 2030. After a delay caused by Hurricane Milton, NASA set a tentative launch time for 12:06 p.m. ET (1606 GMT) on Monday. Scientists have a keen interest in the salty liquid water ocean that previous observations have indicated resides below Europa's icy shell. "There is very strong evidence that the ingredients for life exist on Europa. But we have to go there to find out," said planetary scientist Bonnie Buratti of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the mission's deputy project scientist. "Just to emphasize: we're not a life-detection mission. We're just looking for the conditions for life," Buratti added. Europa Clipper is the biggest spacecraft NASA has ever built for a planetary mission, measuring about 100 feet (30.5 meters) long, about 58 feet (17.6 meters) wide and weighing approximately 13,000 pounds (6,000 kg). It is larger than a basketball court because of its sizable solar arrays to gather sunlight for powering scientific instruments, electronics and its other subsystems. The spacecraft is due to fly by Mars, then back by Earth, using the gravity of each planet to increase its momentum like a slingshot. It has three main science objectives: gauging the thickness of Europa's outer layer of ice and its interactions with the subsurface below, figuring out the moon's composition, and determining its geology. NASA is planning for its spacecraft to conduct 49 close flybys of Europa over a span of three years. Europa's diameter is about 1,940 miles (3,100 km) at its equator, roughly 90% that of our moon. Europa's icy shell is currently believed to be 10-15 miles (15-25 km) thick, floating atop an ocean 40-100 miles (60-150 km) deep. This moon is considered an "ocean world." Even though Europa is just a quarter of Earth's diameter, its subsurface ocean may contain twice the water in Earth's oceans. "As an ocean world, Europa is very intriguing. And this mission is going to help us to understand a complex piece of our solar system," said Gina DiBraccio, acting director of NASA's planetary science division. Ocean worlds, DiBraccio said, might be a common type of body outside our solar system. "Clipper is going to be the first in-depth mission that will allow us to characterize habitability on what could be the most common type of inhabited world in our universe," DiBraccio said. Despite its hostile and frigid surface, scientists believe Europa could be capable of nurturing life. Buratti noted that there are three main requirements for life to form: liquid water, certain chemistry - specifically organic compounds that could serve as food for any primitive organisms - and an energy source. Europa receives only about 4% of the solar radiation that Earth - five times closer to the sun - gets. But Buratti noted that Europa flexes as its orbit comes nearer and farther from Jupiter, thanks to the huge planet's strong gravitational pull - a process that produces heat on the moon. "That's the source of energy we have," Buratti said. At the bottom of Europa's ocean, where the water meets the rocky mantle, there may be thermal vents where heat releases chemical energy. "They may be similar to thermal vents in the deep oceans of the Earth where primitive life exists and where life may have originated on the Earth," Buratti said. The spacecraft's MASPEX instrument will sample gases to study Europa's ocean, surface and atmospheric chemistries. MASPEX will look for "sophisticated organic molecules that could provide the food, if there are any primitive organisms," Buratti added. Jupiter is our solar system's largest planet. Among its 95 officially recognized moons, Europa is fourth largest, behind Ganymede, Callisto and Io. Europa orbits about 417,000 miles (671,000 km) from Jupiter. Buratti said exploratory missions like this one always uncover something "that we could not have imagined." "There is going to be something there - the unknown - that is going to be so wonderful that we can't conceive of it right now," Buratti said. "That's the thing that excites me most."

I didn't enjoy season two quite as much as I did season one, but I still liked it enough to hope that they get a season three. I noticed that some of the episodes were directed by a woman with the same last name as the female star so I assume that's a relative.

Chippendales dancers from Las Vegas are attempting to unionize, making it the first all-male revue to start a labor action. A supermajority of the roughly two dozen beefcakes of the Rio-hotel-based cast voted last week to move to formalize their agreement with Actors’ Equity Association. “The entire Las Vegas Equity community is thrilled to welcome the Chippendales into our ranks,” Actors’ Equity Association leader Marci Skolnick said in a statement. The Chipps have gone so far as to file paperwork to hold a union election within the next month, according to the National Labor Relations Board. Cast member Freddy Godinez was the first of the studmuffins to broach the subject of labor issues facing the troupe. “The biggest issue that was surprising to me was health benefits, specifically, and sick leave,” Godinez, a second year cast member, told the Las Vegas Review-Journal, “There are performers there that have been with the show for seven years, one of them has been there 10 years, and there are no benefits offered for the performers.” “To me, that is kind of a minimum that companies should be able to provide for, especially for their full-time performers,” Godinez added. The musclemen are seeking health benefits and higher wages but that is not the extent of the issues chapping their cheeks. Other issues include compensation for image and likeness that are used on countless products such as posters, billboards, cups, calendars, playing cards, magnets, and t-shirts. Chipps workers say they are also expected to mingle with attendees of the show after the performance but are not compensated for that labor. The union membership would cover the residency show in the Rio Hotel and both the national and international touring productions. Any dispute could threaten a Lou Gehrig-esque streak that the Chipps have at the Rio Hotel – baring their buns at the venue for 8,700 shows since opening in 2002.

I got a text from my sister a couple of hours ago, saying that they have landed, but that my brother in law's bag was never loaded onto the plane. I have absolutely no idea what that's about, so I am assuming that, in addition to the games at Citi Field that they have tickets to, they somehow got tickets to at least one game in Los Angeles and paid last minute prices for a flight.

Head and hands of Colo. girl, 16, last seen in 2005 found in freezer of recently sold home NOT a great real estate find...

444 7-Eleven stores across North America are closing for underperforming, according to the company. Seven & I Holdings, 7-Eleven’s Japan-based parent company, announced in an earnings report Thursday that the stores are closing because of a dip in sales, particularly cigarette sales, as well as decreased traffic and inflation. A list of which stores will be closing was not released. 7-Eleven has 13,000 stores across the US and Canada, which means the closures would only impact 3% of the company’s portfolio. The convenience store chain has faced six consecutive months of traffic declines, including a 7.3% dip in August. “The North American economy remained robust overall thanks to the consumption of high-income earners, despite a persistently inflationary, elevated interest rate and deteriorating employment environment,” Seven & I Holdings said in an earnings release. “In this context, there was a more prudent approach to consumption, particularly among middle- and low-income earners.” The chain highlighted that cigarette sales, once the largest sales category for convenience stores, have fallen 26% since 2019 and that a shift in sales to other nicotine products has failed to make much of a difference. The company said it will transform its stores to be centered around food, which is now the highest-selling category. Seven & I Holdings strives to be “a world-class retail group centered around its food that leads retail innovation through global growth strategies centered on the 7-Eleven business and proactive utilization of technology,” the company said. In July, the convenience store chain said it would also sell popular international food items, including milk, bread, egg sandwiches and miso ramen, at its U.S. stores.

‘Spell casting’ woman arrested for abuse of a corpse, cooking body parts in a pot

Some SVU trivia... An actor named Brett Cullen guest starred this week as a judge. One of Mariska's first roles was as his younger sister in a few episodes of Falcon Crest. She was a free spirit who drove Jane Wyman's character nuts.

A taste of Transylvania: Twister Cake Bakery serves up delicious Eastern European treats to Queens locals City Parks Foundation holds second annual Senior Fitness Fair, featuring special guest Mr. Met