samhexum

I have a Proctor Silex Easy Bake Oven that thinks it's a toaster oven that I bought in a supermarket for $19.99 a few days before Thanksgiving 6 or 7 years ago because the fancy one my sister had given me had died after 2 or 3 years. The timer is only 15 minutes, and you can just close the door if you're using a pie tin. It also makes a mean Shake 'n Bake chicken wing or four.

Was it more aware of social injustices and inequalities with Windows 10?

Greenery practically erupts from the sidewalks and stoops of Deborah Young’s corner of Bed-Stuy, particularly amid the Victorian-style homes lining Stuyvesant Avenue, where the sidewalks are lined with flowerpots and well-tended treebeds overflowing with flora. “Bed-Stuy has always been a green community,” said Young, longtime owner of the beloved neighborhood nursery and garden center Seasons, located at 358 Stuyvesant Ave. – the go-to place for residents looking to further their green exploits and one-up their neighbors. “Always,” she added for emphasis. But it now looks increasingly clear that the neighborhood will have to carry on its green tradition without Young’s critical hand. Young, 64, who was born in and still resides in Bed-Stuy, said the Baptist church landlord of the Seasons property has told her it intends to sell the lot, at a price beyond her reach. Young says she expects to close by year’s end. “I’ve done a lot,” Young said, reflecting on her long service in the community, which is teeming with winners of the Brooklyn Botanic Garden's "Greenest Block in Brooklyn" award — especially along Stuyvesant Avenue. “I raised five boys and three husbands here.” Officials with Mt. Lebanon Baptist Church, which Young says is not the villain in this transition, did not respond to requests for comment, but neighborhood residents said the departure of Seasons would mark another sign of change in a community affected by rising home prices and rents, gentrification, and new construction, which have sometimes left longtime residents and business owners with few options to remain. Young said she never formally studied horticulture, but picked it up from her father, who was a rose enthusiast. Her parents arrived from North Carolina during the Great Migration, when Black southerners began relocating to the North and Midwest in great numbers, starting in the early 1900s. “Everybody Black down there pretty much was agricultural. When my mom got here, she's like, ‘I'm done (with agriculture),’” Young said, laughing. However, under her father’s tutelage, Young planted her first seed — a morning glory — at the age of 3. “And that plant is still growing,” she said. Back then, Young said, Bed-Stuy had a vibrant neighborhood culture that embraced the beauty of nature, and community gardens brimming with kale, collard and turnip greens, and cabbages, even amid “all the negative press in the ‘60s and ‘70s,” mainly about crime in the neighborhood. On a recent afternoon, G. Giraldo, who lives nearby, sat with Young in front of the nursery as the owner tended to her customers’ plants. “It's one thing to go to Home Depot, which is a terrible place to go,” Giraldo said. “It is a black hole of everything. Or you come to your neighbor and you buy from your neighbor.” Nearby, the manager of her business, Stephen Sunderland, watered peperomia plants and touch-me-nots. “When she sits out on that street corner, it's like the Queen of England holding court,” Sunderland said. “She knows your grandchildren. She knows you got married. She knows where you live.” Customer Eric Smith, 70, stopped by to pick up a spider plant, which Young had freshly repotted. “Plants keep you alive and I like to keep my plants alive,” Smith said, adding, “and I’m talking to them now, too.” Smith, another lifelong neighborhood resident, said he hadn’t heard the news about Seasons’ ill fortune. “We’re gonna miss it,” he said. Even as she confronts the end of her business, Young takes pains to avoid painting the property owner as the villain in her story. She said the church had offered her first right of refusal on the property, and at a substantial discount, though still at a cost beyond her reach. And she said the landlord had been “patient” during a stretch when she fell behind on the rent. “They hung in there with me,” she said. “They gave me this opportunity and I appreciate it.” Young said she was now considering leaving the neighborhood altogether and moving in with one of her sons in New Jersey. She didn’t relish the idea but said her options were running out. She’d been scouring available properties in the neighborhood and found the rents, in the range of $7,000 a month, to be “ridiculous.” “I would have to sell plants and heroin,” she joked. “Maybe put a pole up and have ‘Seasons After Dark’ and put Stephen (the manager) out there in a thong and a pair of pumps.” Her manager didn’t flinch. “This is probably the most fun business I've ever worked at,” Sunderland said. “Everybody who walks out of here, walks out of here with a smile on their face.” He said he hadn’t seriously considered life after Seasons, and said its loss would have a profound effect on the neighborhood. “This is the village green for this area,” Sunderland said. “And when this goes, the village green will disappear.” Stuyvesant Avenue abounds with "Greenest Block in Brooklyn" award winners.

They've softened her up just enough so that she doesn't bother me much anymore and occasionally amuses me. I enjoy the show a lot, although I find that whenever I am backed up in my television watching, it is the last one that I catch up on. For example, I still have the last five episodes of the season to watch and I have finished everything else that I watch. And yet, whenever I inevitably catch up, I have enjoyed all the episodes I've watched, so I don't know what causes my delaying.

What has that got to do with the price of rice in china? jingle_dogs.wav tradition.wav

must you always hope for the worst?

Abbott is going to have a crossover episode with another show this season, but they haven't announced which one. I am thinking that Grey's Anatomy would be the most natural fit.

Confucius or fortune cookie?

I'm sure more than a few members here would beg to differ. (oh, please! please let me differ!)

entered the 9th w/ 108 pitches, got a 4 pitch K, then 2 one-pitch outs.

I stopped by to see of any mention of Blake Snell, who'd never completed 8 innings in a game, throwing only the 2nd no-hitter thrown by a current or former San Diego Padre this year.

Big Apple bargain Huge Midtown office building sells at auction for a 97% discount after receiving just 1 bid The half-block behemoth at 135 W. 50th St., which sold for $332 million in 2006, garnered just $8.5 million at auction this week.

Live 2-foot eel chews through man’s intestines after he put it up his anus

Birthday Time (over the hill).wav happy birthday.wav

Big duck energy! World’s largest rubber ducky lands in New York this week The world’s largest rubber ducky — a six-story tall inflatable social media darling — is waddling her way to New York this week.

Christina Hall takes subtle jab at Josh over possibility of ex Ant Anstead replacing him on ‘The Flip Off’ I can't believe this... Christina subtle?

Elliot Stabler's older brother (Dean Norris) is going to be Sam's dad. I like him. We also meet Jay's parents this year and there will be a ghost pet and somehow Jay is going to be able to hear at least some of them, though I didn't read the article for specifics.

Thanks to a scheduling wrinkle that the league is trying out for the first time, Major League Baseball announced on Thursday that the World Series could begin three days earlier than scheduled, with a change in the start date dependent on the results of both league championship series in the previous round. The adjustment would eliminate a potential break in the action — long the bane of teams trying to stay sharp in the postseason — if the pennants from each league are decided in short series. It is scheduled to start on Oct. 25 and could stretch to Nov. 2 in case a Game 7 is needed. However, Game 1 of the Fall Classic could instead be moved up to Oct. 22 instead if both the American League and National League championship series conclude no later than Oct. 19. Barring rainouts during the championship series this fall, that means both seven-game series would need to be wrapped in five games, a statistical rarity since the the current format went into effect in 1985. Since then, there have been only five instances of both league championship series being wrapped up in five games or less: 1989, 2001, 2002, 2014 and 2022, when the Phillies and Astros waited four days to start the World Series after having won the pennant. drum.wav excellent.wav Get off the computer.wav That's the way I like it.wav tradition.wav what's new pussycat.wav

Thanks, but WAY TOO MUCH when shipped by them OR Walmart.

Just popped another devil's food cake into my toaster oven. I have started to mix everything directly in the pie tin… For the devil's food cake and the golden cake I use 1/3 of the mix – I eyeball it – and 1/3 of the water and oil recommended, plus one of the three eggs recommended, and it all comes out wonderfully, with nothing to wash but a spoon. With the brownie mix, I can put the entire package in the pin and mix it up - more carefully because there's a little bit more of it - and it winds up coming out about the same size and volume as the 1/3 of the package of the devil's food cake or golden cake, so I shant be buying the brownies anymore And will instead be constantly buying, baking, and shoving devils food cake into my mouth in the foreseeable future, which is only sold locally by Walmart, of course, none of which are near me. The devils food cake is easily the best of the three, the brownie ranks in the middle, and the golden cake brings up the rear, although it is perfectly fine for a no sugar dessert. Overall, I am pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoy the mixes.

NYC seniors pen last-ditch plea to save beloved decades-old garden: ‘I believe in miracles’ Over 130 seniors, many who would qualify for the 123 units of planned affordable to be built after the garden’s demolition, have inked a last-ditch letter to Mayor Eric Adams to rethink the project. Elderly New Yorkers have mounted a last-ditch campaign to save the decades-old Elizabeth Street Garden from being torn down to make way for affordable senior housing, The Post has learned. Over 130 seniors — many of whom would qualify for the 123 units of affordable housing for the elderly set to be built on the city-owned Nolita lot — inked a letter to Mayor Eric Adams imploring him to rethink the project. “It is a quiet, shaded resting place crucial to our environment, especially in the heat of summer,” the letter reads. The letter from the gray-haired garden enthusiasts is only the latest in a decade-long battle to preserve the 20,000-square-foot sculpture garden, which could be evicted as soon as September to make way for the development project. Locals say the green space — originally the site of a schoolhouse 120 years ago and converted into a sculpture garden in 1990 — provides them with a rare patch of grass undisturbed by recreational sports or playground noise. Its destruction would be a devastating quality of life loss to residents “in our remaining years,” the seniors wrote. “Where are we all going to go?” Judy Liu, 72, a retired lawyer who lives on the Bowery and was one of the signatories, told The Post this week at the garden, located on Elizabeth Street between Prince and Spring Streets. “My dog loves this place. He sniffs every square inch of this place every day,” she said of Giuseppe, her half-Bichon, half-Shih Tzu dog. “I truly don’t know what I’m going to do if this place is destroyed.” The senior citizens noted that many of them “rely heavily on the garden as the only real green space within walking distance in the district.” In fact, it’s the only public green space in Little Italy and SoHo, according to the garden’s website. “Affordable housing must be built in our district. However, we strongly reject the false choice of losing a cherished community garden to do so,” the letter by the seniors says. While there are other parks in lower Manhattan, they offer different purposes than Elizabeth Street Garden’s “thriving volunteer community” and those seeking quiet outdoor time, the seniors wrote. “It’s one of the only places you can sit and not spend money and see your community,” Patricia Squillari, 72, a Lower East Side resident and retired NYC Department of Education parent coordinator, told The Post. Elizabeth Street Garden also offers nearly 200 free programs year-round for all ages, ranging from Tai Chi, poetry and outdoor movie nights to yoga, food drives, live music and more. “Destroying the Garden would not only diminish the lives of the thousands of seniors who already live in Lower Manhattan, but would significantly detract from the quality of life promised to the seniors who would eventually occupy the site’s proposed development,” the letter reads. Multiple alternative sites within the district can provide more housing without the loss of the garden space, the seniors added. The local community board found another site at 388 Hudson St. that could provide five times as much housing at an empty, city-owned gravel lot, advocates say. The affordable housing units, developed by Pennrose Properties, aren’t entirely permanent, either — those are slated to change to market rate in 30 to 60 years, according to supporters of the park. Retail and 11,200 square feet of office space is destined for the ground floor, with Habitat for Humanity already tapped as the anchor tenant. A .15 acre space next to the building is also included in the plans, The Post previously reported. A similar letter writing campaign opposing the plans — and which garnered worldwide supporters — has amassed nearly 400,000 signatures to date. The 2023 letter from New York electeds stood in unwavering defense of the “beloved open space,” calling the garden a “respite” for seniors and families alike. Elizabeth Street Garden, the eponymous nonprofit responsible for the site, challenged the city’s approval of the affordable housing building in 2019, arguing officials didn’t do an adequate environmental review. Last month, the state’s Court of Appeals ruled the NYC Housing and Preservation Department “rationally determined” the plan would not have a significant negative impact on the environment, essentially giving the development project the green light. The nonprofit has also appealed its eviction from the city – though a judge ruled against the garden in May. As a result, the garden could be evicted as soon as Sept. 10, and was ordered to shell out $95,500 in back rent plus interest. Now, the only person who can reverse the eviction is New York City’s mayor. The Elizabeth Street Garden offers a pre-written letter to Adams and the HPD demanding to reverse the eviction for garden supporters to use on its website. “We’ve welcomed the mayor and many of the people who had the power to preserve the garden and they won’t come,” Squillari, the LES resident, told The Post. A City Hall spokesperson said the project would “deliver 100% deeply-affordable senior housing in a neighborhood with few affordable options, while also delivering over 15,000 square feet of public space including a garden and public art, nearly doubling the space currently accessible to this community.” “The Adams administration is working tirelessly to create the housing we need to remain a diverse, inclusive city where every New Yorker can live and thrive,” the statement said. When asked if she would ever come back to the site if it were to be demolished, Squillari refused to even acknowledge the possibility. “I believe in miracles,” she said.

Louis Armstrong House Museum awarded $750k historic civil rights grant

CarShield ordered to pay $10 million federal settlement over deceptive repair coverage ads In a statement Wednesday, the Federal Trade Commission said CarShield, which employs celebrity endorsers including rapper and actor Ice-T and sports commentator Chris Berman, had falsely lured customers with the promise of "peace of mind" and "protection" from the cost and inconvenience of vehicle breakdowns through its contracts. The FTC also charged American Auto Shield, LLC (AAS), the administrator of CarShield's vehicle service contracts, in the scheme. The agency said that at least one ad, which ran 18,000 times on television, stated, "With CarShield’s administrators, they make sure you don’t get stuck with expensive car repair bills like this." It also touted CarShield contracts as "your best line of defense against expensive breakdowns." Yet many purchasers discovered that their repairs were not covered, despite making payments of up to $120 per month for CarShield's product, the FTC said. I guess the FTC agrees about her boobs being a deceptive practice