samhexum

That might be the only way I could drink coffee, though I love coffee ice cream.

I had felt that Levi had run his course and I wasn't really upset about them letting him go, but the storylines they have given him in preparation for his leaving have made me wish they had kept him.

The final season starts tomorrow night.

So does Freddie Freeman.

LIFE GOES ON... (I get all of my philosophies about life from TV theme songs.)

LaGuardia crowned best airport in United States by Forbes Travel Guide following $8 billion transformation

Nicole Scherzinger, Tom Francis join Morning Joe to discuss 'Sunset Boulevard' https://apple.news/A2-vBaLIxTcyZ-mkvg8nSGQ

Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. George Gascón announced he will ask a judge to resentence Erik and Lyle Menendez for the killing of their parents in 1989, a decision that could free the brothers

Mr. Huge Ackman has been full of surprises lately... Broadway star splits from hubby as Hugh Jackman romance rumors heat up Sutton Foster is reportedly “in love” with her “The Music Man” co-star Hugh Jackman.

Malt Drive Park opens, transforming Long Island City waterfront along Newtown Creek Malt Drive Park, in front of the Malt Drive development. Rendering courtesy of TF Cornerstone and SCAPE Landscape Architecture. Oct. 24, 2024 By Ethan Marshall Malt Drive Park, a new expansive park along the Newtown Creek waterfront in the Hunter’s Point South section of Long Island City, officially opened to the public on Thursday, Oct. 17. This public space is meant to advance citywide efforts to bring more New Yorkers back to the water’s edge. Malt Drive Park brings much more public space to the riverfront of the borough into the mouth of Newtown Creek. The park’s name is derived from a former beer distribution center that once stood at the site. Designed by SCAPE Landscape Architecture, Malt Drive Park is also the setting for residential towers recently developed by TF Cornerstone. Residents of this development can join the public in taking advantage of this outdoor space. Rendering courtesy of TF Cornerstone and SCAPE Landscape Architecture. “Working with SCAPE to further unlock this area of the Queens waterfront has been remarkable and incredibly rewarding,” TFC Senior Vice President and Director of Planning Jon McMillan said. “It’s an honor to be a part of the continued growth of Hunter’s Point South and to see so many people from the Queens community and beyond excited about these new public spaces.” Rendering courtesy of TF Cornerstone and SCAPE Landscape Architecture. A block party to celebrate the grand opening of Malt Drive Park has been scheduled for Saturday, Nov. 16, from 1-4 p.m. “We’re so excited to open Malt Drive Park to the public and expand waterfront access for the community,” SCAPE Founding Principal Kate Orff said. “The park embraces the water’s edge, extending the network of parks along the East River in Queens all the way around to this signature site on Newtown Creek. It welcomes everyone to explore its winding paths, with spaces for gathering, play and quiet moments.” The site plan for Malt Drive Park. Photo courtesy of TF Cornerstone and SCAPE Landscape Architecture. Malt Drive Park expands public space from the adjacent Hunter’s Point South Park by three-and-a-half acres. Additionally, it extends access to the shoreline by about 700 feet. The broad sidewalks and meandering paths in the neighborhood invite those in the community to come in and explore Malt Drive Park. There are also seating areas throughout the park, making for ideal gathering places. Rendering courtesy of TF Cornerstone and SCAPE Landscape Architecture. Some of the paths at Malt Drive Park. Rendering courtesy of TF Cornerstone and SCAPE Landscape Architecture. There are plenty of flexible spaces at the park for community gatherings and recreational activities. Such amenities include social seating and play structures, a civic grove and dog run, an open lawn with expansive views of the water and industrial artifacts from the area’s past as a beer distribution center reclaimed during construction. An industrial artifact on display at Malt Drive Park. Rendering courtesy of TF Cornerstone and SCAPE Landscape Architecture. Rendering courtesy of TF Cornerstone and SCAPE Landscape Architecture. Flood risk at this new park has been mostly mitigated by its sculpted topography. It was raised to a higher elevation at building entries, slowly sloping down towards Newtown Creek. As a result of this topography, there is much less flood risk for nearby buildings. At the same time, visitors of the park can still take in the ecology at the edge of the creek. Rendering courtesy of TF Cornerstone and SCAPE Landscape Architecture. Rendering courtesy of TF Cornerstone and SCAPE Landscape Architecture. A concrete block mattress was installed at the floor of Newtown Creek at the park’s western end in order to help stabilize the shoreline and create a marine habitat. Another design element that is meant to encourage the growth of the habitat are the assortment of native plantings across the park, including many adapted to the edge of the water. Among these plantings are the bald cypress, swamp white oaks, American hornbeam and red maples. Rendering courtesy of TF Cornerstone and SCAPE Landscape Architecture. Rendering courtesy of TF Cornerstone and SCAPE Landscape Architecture. The nearby Malt Drive residential area spans 1.43 million square feet across two buildings and three towers. Leasing is already open for the South building, located at 2-20 Malt Dr. Of the 575 apartments there, 173 have been set aside for an affordable housing lottery. The North building is expected to launch leasing before the end of 2024. There are 811 apartments in that building, with 244 expected to be set aside for the affordable housing lottery. Rendering courtesy of TF Cornerstone and SCAPE Landscape Architecture. The first floors of both buildings will also have restaurants and retail for residents, as well as community members visiting Malt Drive Park, to visit.

Judge dismisses majority of claims in lawsuit against Forest Hills Stadium, allowing concerts to continue

The bear known as Grizzly 399, who PBS dubbed the "most famous grizzly in the world," was killed Tuesday evening after being hit by a car in Wyoming, according to officials. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said the bear was identified through her microchip after being hit on a highway in Snake River Canyon near Jackson, Wyoming. A cub was with her at the time of the accident, but the service said there was no indication the cub was involved in the accident. Grizzly 399 was an iconic resident of the Grand Teton National Park, located near Yellowstone National Park. Grand Teton National Park Superintendent Chip Jenkins described her as one of the animals that makes the area's national park ecosystem "so extraordinary." "Grizzly bear 399 has been perhaps the most prominent ambassador for the species," Jenkins said. "She has inspired countless visitors into conservation stewardship around the world and will be missed." The 28-year-old Grizzly was one of the most photographed bears at the park and is the oldest known reproducing female grizzly bear in the greater Yellowstone park system. She's birthed a total of 18 cubs in her lifetime, though only eight have reached adulthood. PBS dedicated an episode of its "Nature" series to Grizzly 399 in May, titling it "Grizzly 399: Queen of the Tetons." Trevor Bloom, a wildlife biologist with the University of Washington, noted in the episode that she was seen raising four cubs which he noted was "rare" for bears. "That's like a human having quadruplets," Bloom said. American nature photographer Thomas D. Mangelsen first saw Grizzly 399 in May 2006, an exciting but fleeting moment for the photographer. He was among the first to photograph the bear and her cubs, which kickstarted years of documenting the grizzly through the lens. He told Stanford University in 2021 that Grizzly 399 became the "poster child" of bear conservation. Grizzlies are a protected class as a threatened species, but not considered endangered. Grizzlies are a subspecies of brown bears and once thrived in North America prior to the early 1800s, but their populations became threatened by European colonizers who believed them to be a danger. According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the species were reduced to 2 percent of their population by the 1930s and by 1975 there were only upwards of 800 bears in the contiguous 48 states. Protections have been put in place to help the bear population rise and now there's an estimated 1,923 in the contiguous U.S., the service said.

Woman tries to drive golf cart but ends up plowing through restaurant as diners dive out of way A surveillance camera at Tako Tiki in Jensen Beach recorded the eye-popping incident, which began when the woman piloted the cart up a narrow ramp that leads to a covered outdoor dining room.

Ron Ely, Star of TV’s Tarzan, Dead at 86 Thu Oct 15, 2020 One year to the day after their brother Cameron Ely ― the son of Tarzan actor Ron Ely ― was shot 22 times by Santa Barbara Sheriff’s deputies, Kirsten Ely and Kaitland Ely Sweet and their attorneys held a tearful news conference in the driveway of the family’s Hope Ranch home to rebuke a new report by the District Attorney’s Office that ruled the shooting a justifiable homicide. Cameron, who was unarmed when he was killed, was the prime suspect in the stabbing death of the siblings’ mother, Valerie, earlier that evening on October 15, 2019. Law enforcement officials claim Cameron announced he had a gun, then lunged at the deputies during their confrontation at the property. The Elys and their attorneys dispute that narrative, arguing Cameron was attempting to surrender to the four deputies with his hands raised when they opened fire without reason or warning. The Elys claim the deputies then lied to investigators, and that the District Attorney’s Office is now complicit in the alleged cover-up. Neither authorities nor the family has provided a clear motive for Valerie’s murder, though a coroner’s report noted Cameron, a Harvard graduate who reportedly suffered from mental health problems and was living with his parents, had been acting erratically and aggressively in the days prior. Ron Ely, 81, was home at the time of the killing, confined to a wheelchair and unable to speak after a recent stroke.

Furry ghouls set to take over Long Island City on Nov. 2 for Halloween Pet Parade

A big difference is that Mays was in his 90s and Rose was 83. Valenzuela was 63.

Fernando Valenzuela has died.

A gun-toting Cybertruck owner took it upon himself to test out how bulletproof the electric vehicle is — and it did not go as expected. Adult film star Dante Colle posted a video to his X account pointing a handgun at the $100K Tesla vehicle in the middle of an open field. In the viral video, Colle fires a shot into the back of the Cybertruck, with the round producing a sizable hole in the exterior and, at first glance, appearing to penetrate the vehicle. “F–k!” the adult film star shouts, dropping his handgun on the ground and putting his hands to his head in shock. “I don’t think it’s bulletproof, Dante,” the woman filming says while playfully laughing at his disappointment. But after inspecting the truck, while the round may have become lodged inside the Cybertruck, one of Colle’s buddies revealed the bullet did not go through. Colle again assumes a firing stance with his pistol, this time on the side of the truck at an angle, for a second take. During the second attempt, the round appeared to ricochet off the side of the Cybertruck, leaving a dent and scrape, but also did not penetrate the electric vehicle.

Denny’s says it’s closing 150 of its lowest-performing restaurants in an effort to turn around the brand’s flagging sales. About half of the closures will happen this year and the rest in 2025, the company said during a meeting with investors Tuesday. The locations weren’t revealed, but the restaurants represent around 10% of Denny’s total. Stephen Dunn, Denny’s executive vice president and chief global development officer, said in some cases, the restaurants are no longer in good locations. “Some of these restaurants can be very old,” Dunn said during the investor meeting. “You think of a 70-year-old plus brand. We have a lot of restaurants that have been out there for a very long time.” Others saw traffic shifts during the pandemic that have yet to reverse, he said. On Tuesday, Denny's reported its fifth straight quarter of year-over-year declines in same-store sales, which are sales at locations open at least a year. Restaurant inflation is outpacing grocery price inflation, which makes it harder for some customers to justify eating out, Denny's said. And when they do eat out, they often head to fast-casual brands like Chipotle or fast-food chains. Denny's said family dining — the category in which it competes — has lost the most customer traffic since 2020. Still, Denny's said it has bright spots, including a value menu that lifted sales in its most recent quarter and growing sales of its delivery-only brands like Banda Burrito. Shares in Denny's Corp., which is based in Spartanburg, South Carolina, tumbled almost 18% on Tuesday.

It's the first new show of the season to be renewed for season two.

WOOF!!! BIG G SHOULD NEVER AGAIN WEAR ANY SHIRT OTHER THAN A CHAMPAGNE-SOAKED SKIN-TIGHT TANK TOP.

Ken Griffey Sr. & Jr., the first father and son to play in a major league game together (Tim Raines Sr. & Jr. later did it, tI), will attend the Lakers' opening opening night, when LeBron & Bronny James will become the NBA's first such duo if Bronny gets into the game. The first time this occurred was in hockey when the legendary Gordie Howe and sons Mark and Marty played for the 1979-80 Hartford Whalers.

A short story by Bram Stoker, the legendary author of "Dracula," has been unearthed by a lifelong enthusiast in Dublin who stumbled upon the work while browsing in a library archive. Titled "Gibbet Hill," the story was uncovered by Brian Cleary in a Christmas supplement of the Dublin edition of the Daily Mail newspaper from 1890 and had remained undocumented for more than 130 years. The rare find, which has never been referenced in any Stoker bibliography or biography, is now being brought to the public for the first time at an exhibition in the Irish capital. "Dracula," the Gothic, mysterious and supernatural vampire novel from 1897 may have been set in Transylvania and England but its author, Stoker, was a Dubliner. "I read 'Dracula' as a child and it stuck with me, I read everything from and about Stoker that I could get my hands on," said Cleary, 44, a writer and amateur historian who lives in the Marino neighborhood of Dublin where the author grew up. Thanks to "Dracula," Stoker "had a massive impact on popular culture, but is under-appreciated," Cleary told AFP in the Casino at Marino, an opulent 18th-century building near the writer's birthplace that is hosting the exhibition. Stoker never enjoyed much commercial success from his legendary book, but in 1931, "Dracula" made it big as a motion picture, with Hungarian actor Bela Lugosi in the title role. Shocking in its time, the movie made Dracula a fixture of popular culture, inspiring literally dozens of movie and TV vampire dramas over the years. Cleary's journey of discovery began in 2021 when a sudden onset of deafness changed his life. While on leave to retrain his hearing after having cochlear implant surgery, Cleary visited the National Library of Ireland to indulge his interest in historical literature and the works of Stoker. There, in October 2023, he chanced upon the hidden literary gem, the "Gibbet Hill" story which he had never heard of before. "I sat in the library flabbergasted, that I was looking at potentially a lost ghost story from Stoker, especially one from around the time he was writing 'Dracula,' with elements of 'Dracula' in it," said Cleary. "I sat looking at the screen wondering, am I the only living person who had read it? Followed by, what on earth do I do with it?" The library's director Audrey Whitty said Cleary called her and said: "I've found something extraordinary in your newspaper archives — you won't believe it." She added that his "astonishing amateur detective work" was a testament to the library's archives, the BBC reported. "There are truly world-important discoveries waiting to be found," Whitty said. Cleary did extensive literary searches to verify the find and consulted Stoker expert and biographer Paul Murray who confirmed the story was unknown, lost and buried in the archives for more than 130 years. "'Gibbet Hill' is very significant in terms of Stoker's development as a writer, 1890 was when he was a young writer and made his first notes for 'Dracula,'" Murray told AFP. "It's a classic Stoker story, the struggle between good and evil, evil which crops up in exotic and unexplained ways, and is a way station on his route to publishing 'Dracula.'" The macabre tale tells of a sailor murdered by three criminals whose bodies were strung up on a gibbet or hanging gallows on a hill as a ghostly warning to passing travelers. To celebrate the discovery, "Gibbet Hill" has been captured in a book that features cover art and illustrations inspired by the story by respected Irish artist Paul McKinley. "It's quite surreal now to be standing next to a picture inspired by three of the characters in the story," said Cleary. "When Brian sent me the 'Gibbet Hill' there was so much I could work with," said McKinley. His eerie, sometimes sinister illustrations include a "juicy, wet, oily painting" of worms inspired by a young character in the story who has a bunch of earthworms in his hands. "Making new images for an old story that has been buried for so long" was a "fascinating challenge" said the artist.

Hollywood loves nothing more than a true-crime story about a serial killer, but a new movie directed by Anna Kendrick does a number on that familiar genre. Rather than being about the monster himself, or even one of his victims, the film is centered around a person he did not murder — someone who got away. “Woman of the Hour,” which premiered Friday at the Toronto International Film Festival, is based on the 1970s crimes of Rodney Alcala, better known as the Dating Game Killer. Over a decade, he took the lives of at least eight women, but investigators believe the number could be as high as 130. Alcala’s most surreal chapter, however, was when he appeared as a bachelor on a 1978 episode of “The Dating Game” smack dab in the middle of committing these atrocities. The question posed by Kendrick, making a strong directing debut, and writer Ian McDonald: Is the justice system so screwed up and society so unconcerned with women that a prolific murderer (who had already been arrested for assault) could easily wind up on a game show — and win? Kendrick does double duty, also playing “Dating Game” contestant Cheryl Bradshaw, who picked Alcala for a date at the end of the show. Little is known about the real Cheryl, the director has admitted, so she is a mostly fictionalized creation to further the film’s talking points. She’s envisioned as a struggling actress who’s just moved to LA and takes a job on “The Dating Game” out of desperation. Fed up with the show’s sexism, not to mention that of her own life, she turns the tables on the bachelors and begins asking them her own challenging questions such as “What are women for?”. That feminist query — like most of the game show scenes featuring Tony Hale as the host — never happened. Same goes for the story of Laura (Nicolette Robinson), a woman in the audience who is certain that Alcala killed her best friend and attempts to blow the whistle during the taping. Cheryl’s appearance is interspersed with flashbacks and flash-forwards to some of Alcala’s killings in New York, Wyoming and California, as he used his day job as a photographer to intrude into women’s lives. Daniel Zovatto plays him with the right mix of creepiness and incomprehensible allure, but shrewdly avoids the tics and overacting that such roles can inspire. In the director’s chair, Kendrick doesn’t shy away from violence, though it’s not excessive either. Still, the murder scenes are difficult to watch and are made all the more real by an authentic 1970s grime that pervades these perilous apartments, rest stops, bars and parking lots. The women are all committed, but best is Autumn Best as a young runaway who ends up driving with Alcala along a desert highway. The scene most alive with tension is another imagined one. We know that Cheryl interacted with Rodney after the episode and the conversation made her decide against going on a date with him. Kendrick and McDonald turn that tidbit into a paralyzing encounter at a bar that comes seconds away from being fatal.

Had the Mets pulled off the comeback I would have been afraid of them because it would have continued their string of miracle finishes and because they had a fairly well balanced team that had flaws but could beat you in different ways. That being said, I think the Dodgers will be a tougher opponent than the Mets would've been. Yet I am very happy with the outcome because I think that if it were Yankees-Mets, the winner would get Soto. The Mets have the richer, more aggressive owner, and a better farm system at this point and Judge is 32 and Cole is 34, so if the Mets won and appeared to have a brighter future, it would've been a much easier sale to make to him than it will be now, whether or not the Yankees beat the Dodgers. Of course, Steve Cohen will WAY outbid Hal Steinbrenner, but hopefully Soto will feel that he can scrape by on somewhere between $600 and $700 million as well as he can on $750 to $850 million and will want to stay where he already knows he is happy.