samhexum

Nature meets Pride at Queer Birding event at LIC waterfront park

maybe they were carried away... FORE!!! The osprey didn’t get its “fish hawk” nickname by chance. The raptor is the only bird known to possess specially designed feet and claws for snatching prey from the water. Its talons curve more than other avians, and spines on the pads of its feet work like barbs to grab fish scales. The birds can even rotate their outer toes so that two digits face forward while the other two face in the opposite direction, allowing them to better clasp their prey while flying. While they generally target prey less than 12 inches long, occasionally an osprey catches something a bit larger than it can handle. Take a situation last month in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. There, a man playing through a disc golf course witnessed an osprey drop a sizable hammerhead shark after being beset by crows. “It’s not uncommon to see an osprey carrying something, but you take note because it’s still really cool to see,” Jonathan Marlowe told Garden & Gun magazine. As it flew above the course’s 11th hole, a pair of crows attacked the osprey in what’s known as “mobbing.” The aggressive, cooperative technique is utilized by birds to protect territory against predators during breeding season. Although the raptor escaped unscathed, it gave up its meal during evasive maneuvers. Marlowe initially thought the hawk was carrying a “random fish” likely retrieved from the nearby Atlantic Ocean—but he was surprised by what he found after walking over to examine the lost prey. “We couldn’t believe it and kept asking ourselves, ‘did that really just happen?’” he said. The osprey had given up a hammerhead shark. Known for its distinctive head shape called a cephalofoil, there are 10 known species around the world, with several populating the southern US coasts along the Atlantic. Three species are known to roam the waters near South Carolina according to the state’s Department of Natural Resources—the bonnethead (Sphyrna tiburo), scalloped hammerhead (Sphyrna lewini), and great hammerhead (Sphyrna mokarran). As LiveScience notes, a new, rare species known as the Carolina hammerhead (Sphyrna gilbert) was also discovered around the same region in 2013. It’s unclear which species plopped onto the disc golf course. Instead of retrieving it, Marlowe opted to leave it where it lay just in case the osprey returned for its meal.

Unless she's pissed at you...

Who the hell would go to Vermont to buy a coat?

I liked Bewitched, but Adam West in his batsuit appealed to me in a special way.

and just like that, I have a present for you...

To many, Alanna O’Donnell is affectionately known as “the chicken lady.” The special education teacher at P177Q, The Robin Sue Ward School for Exceptional Children in Fresh Meadows, runs the first public school chicken coop in Queens’ District 75. O’Donnell has a flock of 9 chickens that she takes care of with her class, a small group of six 19 to 21-year-olds affectionately referred to as her “boys.” O’Donnell, with the support of three paraprofessionals, runs a unique hybrid academic and Essential for Living curriculum that builds a vocational and social skills program for the boys. The backyard of PS 177Q is an unusual sight: an urban farm complete with a chicken coop, vegetable garden, and sensory garden that disrupts the mundane flow of the otherwise unassuming neighborhood of Fresh Meadows. O’Donnell and her students take care of the day-to-day upkeep, including feeding the chickens, cleaning their coops, and other related tasks. The tasks are rotating between the students, a tactic she uses to help her students get used to change in routine, build empathy, and other important behavioral skills. “ When we started with this…my boys did not want anything to do with them. Now they’re hand feeding them,” she said. “They’ll pick them up, they’ll move them from one area of the coop to the actual farm on their own.” PS177Q is a self-contained special education school for children and young adults ages 11 to 22 with autism, emotional and behavioral challenges, Intellectual Disability, and Multiple Disability, with tailored in-school programs to support their needs. O’Donnell admits that she had no prior experience with taking care of chickens. In fact, she was inspired to start the program to help her students adapt to changing routines and lessen stress responses in other areas of their lives. “It was Tractor Supply who held my hand and walked me through everything that we needed. I was a chicken virgin. I had no experience with chickens,” she laughed. “I just really thought this was something I could see really working. I had a vision for it, and I walked into my principal’s office, and I looked at him and I said, how do you feel about chickens?” O’Donnell credits the support of her principal, administrators, and classroom paraprofessionals with starting the chicken coop. When she and her students built the coop in October 2023, O’Donnell did upkeep on weekends and holidays. Since then, she’s been able to make it more self-sufficient. The community has rallied around the program, with neighbors bringing their families to the coop and farm, and there is a consistent demand for fresh eggs. “People can’t get eggs fast enough,” O’Donnell said. “We take whatever money we have left and reinvest in the farm.” O’Donnell also uses the earnings to take her students on regular field trips to the Queens County Farm, where they purchase vegetables for the birds and have a chance to interact with farm workers. “It exposes them to being in the neighborhood shopping, meeting people outside…the staff over there was very kind to the kids,” she said. O’Donnell tailors a lesson plan from the New York Agriculture in the Classroom. In 2023, she received a $1,500 grant from the organization to start the chicken coop, and since then, she’s invested over $25,000 of her personal earnings. She hopes to expand the program and have over 40 chickens in the near future. For O’Donnell, taking care of the chickens is rewarding for the students and their families. With the majority of her students being nonverbal and communicating through devices, O’Donnell said it was heartwarming seeing her students shatter expectations. “The first time we saw one of them do it by themselves, there were a lot of tears…I’ve said this before, when a parent is told this is the best that your kid is going to do, and then they exceed those expectations, it changes the way you view this program and what we’re doing,” she said. “ Everybody seems to think…they can’t raise chickens. But the reality is, they’ve learned how to be tolerant. They’ve learned how to accept no, they’ve learned how to follow directions, manage their behaviors, and let us know when they’re exhausted,” she said. Her passion for her students has not gone unnoticed. On Friday, May 30, the FLAG Foundation honored O’Donnell with the FLAG Award for Teaching Excellence, a $25,000 personal cash prize and a $10,000 grant for an arts education initiative in her school. A few months ago, O’Donnell said a parent nominated her for the award, and she didn’t think much of it after she sent in her application. The award and subsequent celebration came as a shock to O’Donnell. In fact, she thought Friday’s celebration was a retirement party.  ”It was such a surprise, and my boys were sitting there. And you could see that they knew something was happening, they just weren’t sure what yet. And then as the event went on, they were completely engrossed in what was happening, so it was really amazing,” she said. Thirty-three winners were selected from the nominees, with six winners from the five boroughs. Nominees were required to complete a comprehensive application, participate in an interview process that included an interview with their principal, and submit supplementary material. This year’s FLAG Award for Teaching Excellence received the most nominations in its history, with 1,600 submissions from students, parents, principals, and teachers. O’Donnell said she’s looking forward to going on a small vacation and paying for her semester for her second master’s degree in Literacy and TESL, which she’s finishing in December of this year at Pace University. O’Donnell said that none of this was possible without the support of her classroom’s paraprofessionals.  ”It was probably the most humbling thing because…when they called my name, it’s not just me. It’s the team of ladies that I work with. When you acknowledge me-yes, I wrote the grant and I did that stuff-but you are acknowledging their hard work and their dedication and their love for the kids as well,” she said. The grant is going towards a project, a homesteading YouTube channel called the 177 School Steading Project, which should be launching in September. “ So we’ve used that money to get a new computer, a new camera, new equipment that would allow us to create these videos where we invite guests on and we ask them questions and we can share our knowledge on farming and chicken care,” O’Donnell said. The YouTube channel will be available for public viewership, and O’Donnell said she hopes it will foster a sense of community and confidence for her students and allow them to engage with others. O’Donnell always knew she would live her life in service of others. Growing up in Fresh Meadows as the daughter of a FNDY firefighter, and registered nurse, the foundation her parents laid created a clear pathway for her future.“ When you are raised in that kind of a household where you watch your parents constantly giving back to the community, it’s not an option,” she said. “My mom and dad are just amazing human beings. I am so lucky to have been raised in that life of service. So, of course, I’m glad that I’m able to continue it.” O’Donnell has worked with P.S. 177Q for the past three years and with the NYC Department of Education for 12 years. “ It is the greatest job. It is not without its difficult moments, but I wouldn’t be the human being I am today if I didn’t work in special ed,” she said.

Missing Bride Surrenders, Is Arrested After Allegedly Murdering Husband On Honeymoon Sonam Raghuvanshi, 25, allegedly surrendered at a police station in Uttar Pradesh's Ghazipur district on Monday, June 9. Police accuse her of hiring people to kill her husband, Raja Raghuvansh, during their honeymoon in Meghalaya, the BBC and local outlet Hindustan Times reported. Sonam married Raja, 30, on May 11 at a ceremony in Indore, which was blessed by both families, according to the BBC. However, the couple went missing four days after they arrived in Meghalaya for their honeymoon.

He was 82.

I first became aware of him on THE GOODE WIFE.

Gay guys wanted to be Samantha. Straight guys wanted to do Samantha.

Tamara Peterson and her Pomeranian, Levi, are currently the sole occupants of the 58th floor of Brooklyn Tower. Peterson, an executive assistant for someone she describes as an “ultrahigh-net-worth individual,” moved into her one-bedroom, one-and-a-half-bath more than a year ago but still hasn’t taken a dip in the pool that wraps around the Guastavino dome of the Dimes Savings Bank or let Levi loose on the “world’s highest dog run” on the 66th floor — neither has opened. As she waits for the opulent, 80,000-square-foot Life Time “athletic club” to open in the base of the building, she has been given a free membership to use the chain’s other locations. Sure, there are delays, Peterson says, but Silverstein Capital Partners — which took over the building from JDS Development last summer in a $672 million foreclosure settlement — has been reasonable about the whole thing. In addition to the amenity work-arounds, she has received “generous” reductions in her common charges (ostensibly because there’s not yet much to charge for). “They’ve done stuff for us,” she says. “They know they’re not finished.” Which is perhaps an understatement: It has been a rocky couple of years at Brooklyn’s first supertall with just 23 of the 143 condos selling in the 93-story neo-Gothic skyscraper, meaning near-empty elevator rides and an indefinite delay for residents eyeing a condo-board seat. Sales relaunched in June under Silverstein’s watch, with Corcoran Sunshine taking over the project from Douglas Elliman Development Marketing, but the question remains: Will anyone buy? “It always leaves a stench,” Compass broker Maggie Marshall says of the early sales slump, which she, like nearly every other broker I spoke to, blames in large part on pricing. Still, she says, these things tend to turn around one way or another: “It’s not like you’re going to have a building sitting empty for the next 300 years. It’ll fill up; it just depends on what structure, rental or condo.” The tower, once characterized by its previous developer, Michael Stern, as “a symbol of Brooklyn’s unceasing drive and ambition,” is a test case in a neighborhood largely known, until recently, for civic drudgery and a bleak Macy’s (RIP). Would buyers be willing to drop millions to live above Junior’s if the building came with enough Billionaires Row–style amenities and finishes? “If you look at the Brooklyn real-estate market as a whole, downtown Brooklyn is always kind of a fallback to other neighborhoods,” says Brown Harris Stevens broker Ari Harkov. “It’s hard to take what is a fallback neighborhood and achieve a top-tier price.” And the prices are top tier. Condos, restricted to the upper half of the spire, with its blackened-steel and bronze design by SHoP Architects, were initially priced up to $8 million for a four-bedroom. Dropping the same amount of cash in nearby Brooklyn Heights could get you a seven-bedroom townhouse. “Obviously, the building has amenities and services and views, things you can’t get in a four-story walk-up in Park Slope,” Harkov says, “but at the end of the day, there’s a smaller buyer pool that wants to make that trade.” The financial drama that roiled the building last year hasn’t helped. In the spring of 2022, after nearly a decade of planning and construction, Stern’s JDS Development began listing sales. A year later, the first tenants began to move into the tower’s 398 leased units — a combination of market rate and affordable — around the same time JDS put its rentals and roughly 130,000 square feet of retail space on the market. The developer hoped to find a buyer willing to pay north of $600 million for the package, but none emerged and condo sales proved glacial. In March 2024, JDS defaulted on its $240 million mezzanine loan from Silverstein Capital Partners, which had also purchased the developer’s $424 million senior mortgage from Otéra Capital. Silverstein moved to foreclose, and both sides settled to avoid seeing the building go up for auction, with JDS transferring complete ownership in July. But it’s not as if there isn’t a luxury market in Brooklyn. Compass broker Ryan Garson cited 11 Hoyt as a success story and once again pointed to pricing as Brooklyn Tower’s main problem. So something eventually has to give: Either prices come down in some fashion or Silverstein could resort to leasing the condo units to stanch the bleeding, at least until the market shifts in its favor. It’s a familiar story. Donna Olshan, who tracks Manhattan’s luxury market, says this kind of stall out hardly means the project will fail. She has seen plenty of buildings come out of the ashes, citing One High Line as an example of something that just sat until it didn’t. The handful of owners I talked to — buyers, many on the younger end of the spectrum, range from consultants, doctors, and finance types to anonymous LLCs — seems to be floating above the industry chatter. Adam Chang moved from Jersey City early last year after picking up a one-bedroom, one-bath for $1.3 million. He’s got “quite nice” views of Fort Greene Park and the New York Harbor from his Gachot Studios–designed unit, he says, and has been a regular at the Trader Joe’s across the street. He loves the “super-friendly” building staff, who have helped him move furniture and even haul a fridge up to his apartment. As to the dozens of unsold units sitting empty just a few stories above him? “There’s fewer people in the elevator, but I don’t know who’s complaining about that.” (Shawn Katz, president of Silverstein Capital Partners, says the company is looking forward to completing construction on the building and its amenities for current and future residents.) Life in a supertall ghost town has some other unexpected perks, residents say. Nosy neighbors have been able to poke around unlocked units, snooping to see how their views compare with the penthouses’. And with no strangers passing through the hallways to bark at, Peterson says Levi has been extra-quiet lately. “It’s quite peaceful up here.”

American Airlines first to implement new facial recognition system at JFK for U.S. citizens – QNS QNS.COM American Airlines and CBP have officially introduced a new biometric screening system at John F... BIG BROTHER IS HANGING OUT IN QUEENS! Selfhelp hosts Holocaust Survivor Day event in Forest Hills with music, dancing and reflection – QNS QNS.COM Holocaust survivors gathered for a “Coffee House” celebration hosted by Selfhelp Community Services... Fourth annual SunnyPride celebration set for June 13 in Sunnyside - Sunnyside Post SUNNYSIDEPOST.COM June 5, 2025 By Czarinna Andres More than 2,000 people are expected to attend the fourth annual...

Four-and-a-half months after launch atop a Falcon 9 rocket, a privately-built Japanese lander attempted to touch down on the moon Thursday, but telemetry indicated a higher-than-expected descent velocity moments before communications were lost. The data suggested a mission-ending crash landing. "Based on the currently available data, the Mission Control Center has been able to confirm the following: The laser rangefinder used to measure the distance to the lunar surface experienced delays in obtaining valid measurement values," ispace, builder of the Resilience lander, said in a statement. "As a result, the lander was unable to decelerate sufficiently to reach the required speed for the planned lunar landing. Based on these circumstances, it is currently assumed that the lander likely performed a hard landing on the lunar surface.

I asked Siri tonight, and this is what she said: a top balances on a tiny tip. As it begins to wobble, the axis of the top tilts to the side, which allows the force of gravity to exert a force known as torque on the top.

I think Sam Stein of The Bulwark is adorable.

Yeah, but you didn't quote the most relevant part of my post:

Cameras may soon be installed on city street sweepers to catch drivers who refuse to move their cars during alternate-side parking rules under a bill that the City Council is urging state lawmakers to pass this session. The NYC Council said on May 28 that it passed a home rule in support of state legislation that would put cameras on NYC Department of Sanitation (DSNY) sweeping trucks to crack down on violators who refuse to budge during scheduled street sweeping hours. A home rule means the city council can officially request that state lawmakers pass a special law affecting NYC.

ATK Test Cook Lan Lam makes Lumpiang Shanghai with Seasoned Vinegar. Avalon https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lumpia On the recent episode of "How to Get Away with Murder" we got to see Oliver and Conrad's moms. And Olivers's mom made lumpia. Edited November 2, 2018 by Avalo bashfull My neighbor is from the Manila. A couple times of year, she will occasionally knock on my door with a plate of these, and a bit of sweet and sour sauce in a small container. I never asked her what they were called, just enjoyed them. They're very good.

The New Jersey Turnpike Authority has decided to part ways with Tesla, ordering 64 Supercharges to be removed from the super highway connecting northern and southern New Jersey. The authority has decided to use a sole third-party provider for its electric vehicle charging, which is why it didn’t renew a contract to keep Tesla Superchargers on the toll road, Tesla said on social media on Friday. “We have been preparing for three years for this potential outcome by building 116 stalls off the New Jersey Turnpike, ensuring no interruption for our customers,” the Tesla statement said. “The New Jersey Turnpike Authority has requested that Tesla decommission all 64 Supercharger stalls on the major highway,“ The New Jersey Turnpike Authority ("NJTA") has chosen a sole third-party charging provider to serve the New Jersey Turnpike and is not allowing us to co-locate. As a result, NJTA requested 64 existing Supercharger stalls on the New Jersey Turnpike to not be renewed and be decommissioned. We have been preparing for 3 years for this potential outcome by building 116 stalls off the New Jersey Turnpike, ensuring no interruption for our customers. The map below outlines the existing replacement Superchargers, and Trip Planner will adjust automatically. Service areas on the New Jersey Turnpike will begin transitioning fully to Universal Open Access EV chargers on June 6, according to a statement issued May 30 by the New Jersey Turnpike Authority. The chargers, which will be provided by Applegreen Electric, are compatible with all makes and models of electric vehicles, the statement said. Tesla said it offered the NJTA above-market commercial terms, including offering to build Superchargers at all New Jersey service plaza and with equipment upgrades, such as screens and NACS with CCS1 “magic docks”. Tesla called the decision to eliminate the charging stations a setback for EV users on the highway. “Tesla always advocates for more infrastructure and co-location with additional third-party charging providers. This drives down costs through optionality, and accelerates EV adoption by having sufficient capacity to shoulder peaks,” the statement said. Tesla also said that NJTA’s decision to remove, rather than add, critical charging infrastructure is a setback for New Jersey’s electric vehicle adoption goals of 100% Zero-Emission New Car Sales by 2035. It removes Turnpike access to the most reliable (99.9% uptime), least congested (<1% waiters) and cost-effective (~30% lower $/kWh) charging. The universal chargers will be available as of June 6 at the Vince Lombardi, Woodrow Wilson, Richard Stockton, James Fenimore Cooper, Joyce Kilmer, and Walt Whitman Service Areas. The NJTA said it is working with Applegreen to get the universal chargers online soon at three other Turnpike locations. The chargers are expected to be operational in the Molly Pitcher Service Area in July and the Clara Barton and John Fenwick Service Areas this fall. Tesla said in the statement it is hopeful the NJTA or Gov. Phil Murphy might change their minds about the charging stations. “We are still willing to invest in New Jersey Turnpike sites if the New Jersey Turnpike or Murphy want to reverse this decision. Otherwise, we will continue to build out the best possible infrastructure off the Turnpike to serve Tesla owners and the electric vehicle drivers of New Jersey.”

THAT'S A LOT OF DOUGH.

Your avatar got married! Hailee Steinfeld Marries Josh Allen in California

Helen Mirren delightfully stunned her fellow leading ladies by declaring that "none of us are beauties" in a recent roundtable about their craft. The star, an Emmy contender for her work on MobLand, convened with the lovely Kathy Bates, Parker Posey, Niecy Nash-Betts, Cristin Milioti, and Keri Russell for The Hollywood Reporter's drama actress roundtable, where they waxed poetic about beauty and some of the worst career advice they've received, including being told to lose weight ("I went home and ate a cookie" instead, quipped Nash-Betts) or get plastic surgery. Mirren's unexpected remark to her peers came after she revealed that she was told to get a nose job in her 20s. "Someone said, 'You’ll never get work if you don’t have a nose job,'" Mirren recalled. "I said no. I didn’t want to be a pretty actress anyway. I elected to be not so pretty." When Bates remarked that an artist's "amazing performance" makes them "beautiful," Mirren said, "Looking at our faces around this table, none of us are beautiful." Bates quipped in response, "Oh, get out of town! I feel more beautiful than I have in my entire life." But Mirren doubled down. "We’re not. None of us are beauties," the Oscar winner said. "We all have really different faces, very interesting faces." "Kathy’s like, 'Speak for yourself,'" Russell quipped in response, laughing. Bates, who has since spoken out about her health struggles, also recounted an agent advising her to keep her ovarian cancer diagnosis private back in 2003 in fear of her becoming the "poster child for ovarian cancer.” The cancer survivor told the roundtable, "I think if I had come out at that point, maybe it would have helped some people." The Matlock star recently spoke about struggling to book roles because she did not always have typical Hollywood star looks, telling Vanity Fair in an interview published earlier this week that the late Garry Marshall declined to cast her in 1991's Frankie and Johnny because he couldn't envision her as a love interest. (The film is an adaptation of the stage play Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune; Bates originated the role of Frankie.) "He couldn’t make the leap that people would see me onscreen kissing someone,” Bates said. “Me actually kissing a man onscreen — that would not be romantic.” The full roundtable discussion premieres Sunday.

DONE...