Small Talk: Out of Genoa

[peacheslatour]

19 minutes ago, AngelKitty said:

I get email from Allrecipes too. I am a recipe junkie and can read them for hours. I also get from Food Network, Bon Appetit, Epicurius, Mr. Food, Casserole of the day, Pinterest, Slow Cooker Chronicle, and Yummly.

Do you ever watch the Scrumdiddlyumptous videos on You Tube? I am addicted to them.

[OhioSongbird]

Did not know about that one...thanks!

Off to YT land.....

[Capricasix]

1 hour ago, Cupid Stunt said:

I find it fascinating that the pro-life industry isn't baying to strictly regulate IVF doctors/clinics/holding facilities. All those 'Snowflake Babies' left to the commercial mercies of godless science and nitrogen refrigeration technicians. 

It’s because they haven’t been implanted yet. Some politician guy (of course it’s a man) from Alabama (I think, but no surprise there) said as much. I’ll see if I can find the quote.

Yup, here it is: https://www.glamour.com/story/alabama-abortion-ban-roe-v-wade-womens-rights/amp

Edited July 15, 2019 by Capricasix

[OhioSongbird]

Can somebody please 'splain WTH he was talking about?

I'm 'fused man, really cornfused....

Alabama seems hell bent on becoming the most repressive state in the Union. 

I'm a baby boomer and have been a political junkie since the Nixon election (thank you Mr. Greismeyer, our civics teacher).  Just watched Ball of Confusion on PBS (twice) about the 1968 election.  Really chilling reflection of what happened in 2016.

[AngelKitty]

57 minutes ago, peacheslatour said:

Do you ever watch the Scrumdiddlyumptous videos on You Tube? I am addicted to them.

Thanks, thanks a lot. I just had to force myself away from 7 uses for bread dough. 🤪

[peacheslatour]

40 minutes ago, AngelKitty said:

Thanks, thanks a lot. I just had to force myself away from 7 uses for bread dough. 🤪

Right? I swear they're hypnotic.

[boes]

1 hour ago, AngelKitty said:

Thanks, thanks a lot. I just had to force myself away from 7 uses for bread dough. 🤪

I think Stafford has found an 8th use for bread dough....2 loaves worth....

[pearlite]

4 hours ago, peacheslatour said:

Do you ever watch the Scrumdiddlyumptous videos on You Tube? I am addicted to them.

I haven't. But I do watch whatever cooking shows come through on Bell Fibe [service provider]. There are so few that are actually about cooking, though--they're mostly what's called "competitive" shows. And other than MasterChef Canada, which, sorry, is much better than US MasterChef [no Gordon Ramsey, or Joe Bastianich, among other things[, those don't do much for me.

OTOH, cooking magazines are my downfall. There's something about print magazines--an addiction since childhood.

[jpagan05]

I'm all for a dessert hacks. I love to cook but find baking soul-sucking. Here's a yummy cake I've made a few times courtesy of Carla Hall. The complete online version is missing the method, since "The Chew" is gone but I have it printed out. I love this cake because it's easy and not too sweet.

Preheat oven to 325º

She uses a spring form pan. I use a regular 9" round pan. Spray with non-stick cooking spray. She also uses parchment paper. It comes out fine without it.

Puree the strawberries in food processor until smooth. Measure out 3/4 of a cup and transfer to a large bowl, add lemon zest, lemon curd and whisk to combine. Whisk in eggs, cake mix and a pinch of salt. Transfer to prepared pan and bake until the cake starts to pull away from the sides, about 45-50 minutes.

For topping: Add sliced strawberries, lemon zest and 2 tablespoons of confectioners' sugar. (I also add leftover puree and some lemon juice- I like tart)

If you want to get fancy, dust the top with the remaining confectioners' sugar

[peacheslatour]

That sounds divine!

[jpagan05]

Okay, going down the Scrumdiddlyumptous rabbit hole......

[OhioSongbird]

Oh, hell to the yes.......you're speaking my language!

[peacheslatour]

3 minutes ago, jpagan05 said:

Okay, going down the Scrumdiddlyumptous rabbit hole......

Bye, hope to see you on the other side.

[jewel21]

Anyone want a cockatiel? Free to a good home. 

I jest, I jest! I love my bird, just not at this moment, heh. 

*wonders if they make cockatiel-sized pacifiers and where she can get one*

[OhioSongbird]

I love birds.  Off and on kept a couple of parakeets in the shop and at home.  I would love a big bird but hubby is not such a fan...and they are a lot of work.  Cockatiels are awesome and parrots.  My Great Aunt Effie (married to Uncle Clemmons...gotta love down home names) had a parrot she rescued from a pet shop who's previous owner was a sailor (I am not making this up).  We're talking late '50's--early '60's as I was a kid at the time.  He would cuss like a sailor and Aunt Effie would take her cane and rap the side of his cage....."Don't use that language in this house!"  He lived in the middle of the kitchen and ruled the house.

Wait for it......his name was Polly.

[peacheslatour]

25 minutes ago, jewel21 said:

Anyone want a cockatiel? Free to a good home. 

I jest, I jest! I love my bird, just not at this moment, heh. 

*wonders if they make cockatiel-sized pacifiers and where she can get one*

What did Stunning Steve do to elicit this response from our gentle jewel?

[jewel21]

6 minutes ago, peacheslatour said:

What did Stunning Steve do to elicit this response from our gentle jewel?

He just won't stop screaming. From 7 AM until now. He screams when I'm in the room, out of the room. He's driving me nuts, lol. 

[Anna Yolei]

On 7/8/2019 at 1:39 PM, lovemesomejoolery said:

Yikes!    I had no idea that Luke raped Laura!    I never watched that soap......just always heard about Luke and Laura all the time.  

Late to the party on this, but yeah  I didn't learn about that tidbit till I came over to TWoP either.  I heard a few years ago that one of their children heard what Like did and frigging went off. As he should have.

On 7/11/2019 at 1:07 PM, jewel21 said:

And I became an Aunt on the 9th of July. 

OMG, congrats! 🙂

[valleycliffe]

45 minutes ago, jewel21 said:

Anyone want a cockatiel? Free to a good home. 

I jest, I jest! I love my bird, just not at this moment, heh. 

*wonders if they make cockatiel-sized pacifiers and where she can get one*

lol, so what is steve whining about?  what can you bribe him with?

ETA:  i think he's just mad you went on vacay and is making you pay is all..kinda like how my cat is when we go away for a couple of days and then come home...she loves u, rubs up all against you then bites.

Edited July 15, 2019 by valleycliffe

[jewel21]

2 minutes ago, Anna Yolei said:

Late to the party on this, but yeah  I didn't learn about that tidbit till I came over to TWoP either.  I heard a few years ago that one of their children heard what Like did and frigging went off. As he should have.

OMG, congrats! 🙂

Thank you! I haven't met baby Anthony yet but I've seen pics and he looks cute. He's also apparently a lot like my brother, he won't shut up and is always hungry, lol. 

P.S. I think Steve knows we're talking about him. He's been strangely quiet for  the past 6 minutes. 

2 minutes ago, valleycliffe said:

lol, so what is steve whining about?  what can you bribe him with?

Certainly not hugs and kisses. 

*mutters*

[OhioSongbird]

They know....

[Capricasix]

4 hours ago, pearlite said:

I haven't. But I do watch whatever cooking shows come through on Bell Fibe [service provider]. There are so few that are actually about cooking, though--they're mostly what's called "competitive" shows. And other than MasterChef Canada, which, sorry, is much better than US MasterChef [no Gordon Ramsey, or Joe Bastianich, among other things[, those don't do much for me.

OTOH, cooking magazines are my downfall. There's something about print magazines--an addiction since childhood.

I’m so annoyed at CBC for cutting one of the challenges, when they air Great British Baking Show, to make room for commercials. I know why they have to do it, but it doesn’t make me any less annoyed! At least when PBS airs the episodes, they don’t have to cut anything. 

We haven’t had cable for a long time, but when we did, I used to love watching Chuck’s Day Off - I like all his food tattoos 😄

Edited July 15, 2019 by Capricasix

[Cupid Stunt]

Gary LeMel, Film Music Supervision Giant and Pop-Jazz Singer, Dies at 80

Gary LeMel, a longtime president of music at Warner Bros. Pictures whom the Los Angeles Times once called “the father of the compilation soundtrack album,” died July 6 after a battle with Parkinson’s disease. He was 80.

Film agent Richard Kraft called him “a true giant in the film music industry.” Songwriters Hall of Fame member Steve Dorff described LeMel as “an amazing music man (and) a true friend who made an indelible contribution to my career.” Tom Sturges, a former top exec at Universal Music and other publishing companies, called him “one of the great music execs in the film business, ever. He treated me with the greatest respect at every meeting, took every call and listened to every song and artist I pitched him. Truly one of a kind.”

LeMel’s wife of almost 47 years, Maddy LeMel, a visual artist, told Variety she was staggered by the amount of testimonials coming in.

“It’s wild, because we’ve been married almost 47 years next month, and you think you know the person you’re living with and what they’ve done,” she said Friday, the day after a family-only funeral was held. “It was mind-boggling. I always knew he was loved, because at a checkout stand, people would hear the name LeMel and say, ‘Are you related? Oh my God, I love him.’ They would say he’s one of the only executives in the industry — both industries, film and music — that was really a nice guy, or, in their language, wasn’t a (jerk). So this is a beautiful statement. I really seriously had no idea how many people’s lives he touched until this happened.”

LeMel was a jazz recording artist in his own right over a period of decades, and he had not let illness keep him away from making music. After being diagnosed with Parkinson’s in 2010, LeMel went on to join the Fifth Dementia, a waggishly named jazz group made up of dementia patients.

One of LeMel’s last and most prestigious public appearances came in 2017 when he was honored with the Guild of Music Supervisors’ Legacy Award at their annual gathering at the Theatre at Ace Hotel (an event at which he is pictured, above).

At Warner Bros., LeMel became known as “the godfather of the modern soundtrack” with successes including the “Batman,” “Matrix,” “Harry Potter” and “Ocean’s Eleven” films among his credits, not to mention one of the most successful soundtrack albums of all time, “The Bodyguard.”

Before joining Warner Bros., LeMel was a VP at Jerry Weintraub’s management company. He was working at First Artists Music when he was asked to be the music supervisor on Barbra Streisand’s “A Star Is Born” project, resulting in one of the biggest soundtrack albums of the 1970s. A stint at Neil Bogart’s Boardwalk followed before LeMel moved on to Columbia Pictures, where he worked on the soundtracks for “Ghostbusters,” “The Big Chill” and “Against All Odds.” In his long career at WB, starting in 1986 and lasting for 23 years, he worked on music-heavy films like “Space Jam” and “Singles” as well as “The Bodyguard.”

“He made the soundtrack so i important to the film, as a tool,” says Maddy LeMel. It was largely during his tenure that studios realized that “if they released the soundtrack earlier as they usually did, it made people want to go see the film, so it was a positive influence on ticket sales. ‘The Big Chill’ was a monumental-selling soundtrack that was a great example of that…. According to what they said when he got the Guild of Music Supervisors’ (Legacy) award, he worked on over 500 films. I about fell off my chair when they said that — and I think he did too, but someone had tracked it.”

As a recording artist, though, LeMel’s career stretches much further back. His first album came out on the VeeJay label in 1964, around the same time the Beatles had a release on the imprint. “Their record killed my album,” he told the Los Angeles Times in 1995, while admitting that his old-school pop style didn’t stand much of a chance against the British rock invasion. “I was working Playboy clubs, sometimes doing five shows a night and barely making 300 bucks a week.”

LeMel’s return to making music in the ’90s included a Blue Note album, “Romancing the Screen,” heralded by a club gig at the Cinegrill in Hollywood that brought out such heavyweight friends as Frank Sinatra and Warren Beatty. “When I heard that Frank was there, I was so scared that I almost couldn’t do it,” LeMel told the Times. In 1999 he released a Bobby Darin tribute, “Moonlighting,” followed by “Lost in Your Arms” in 2001.

In 2004 Variety reviewed his appearance at the Vic in Santa Monica. Reviewer Richard S. Ginell wrote: “It’s nice to know that in entertainment congloms there’s someone in charge somewhere who really loves music. Gary LeMel, who makes his living as president of worldwide music at Warner Bros. Films, is one who does — and once in a great while, he dusts off his vocal cords and puts himself into the arena, armed with an accumulation of mostly vintage standards. … LeMel’s best quality is a terrific sense of taste, in material and musicians.”

Says Maddy LeMel, “His first and most important love was performing and singing, because he was a 5-year-old child that jumped up on the piano and started playing classical music. He sang and played bass very early on in Tucson, and music was the most important thing to him. Unfortunately right when his first album came out and was doing well, the Beatles arrived and changed the whole face of ,usic. He just said, ‘I’m not a rocker and not gonna try to be.’ He was more of a balladeer at that time, so he had to let that career go, and it was very difficult for him. But through the years I encouraged him to go in and play clubs, and that made all the difference. All the success he had as an executive didn’t compare to being a singer and musician.”

The support went both ways. “He was always, always behind me 100 percent, encouraging me,” says Maddy. “I know a lot of women who have husbands who were resentful they had to pay for their studio rentals. Gary was so much behind me, like a great promoter. He was an incredibly kind and loving man. I’ve always said no one could have given me the unconditional love he did all these years. Even if I was being a jerk, he was just so accepting of everything. But the statements I’m seeing from everyone (on social media) are unreal. I’m even in shock, and I should know all that.”

A public memorial is being planned for mid-August by Doug Frank, who worked with LeMel at Warner Bros.; he and the family are in search of a suitably sized venue to hold it.

Being a member of the Fifth Dementia was “the highlight of his life in his last few years, after everything else he wasn’t able to do because of the Parkinson’s. He loved it because he got to sing. We decided that in the memorial invitation we’re going to ask people if they’ll make a donation to Music Mends Minds, because they gave him so much joy at the end.”

Besides Maddy, LeMel is survived by three daughters, Tal, Tasha and Amber, and a grandson, Elijah.

-- Chris Willman

Edited July 16, 2019 by Cupid Stunt

[Cupid Stunt]

Forget Shark Week … Think of the deadly combination of Sharks and Giant Jellyfish and Meth 'Gators and Geese!

• Methed-up gators and ducks and geese, oh my! Tennessee police warn against flushing drugs down the toilet

• Chicago officials close park in hopes 'calm and quiet' will cause alligator 'Chance the Snapper' to resurface

• Giant jellyfish the size of a human spotted by divers off English coast

• Man convicted of trafficking sharks kept in his basement

• Amazon workers are celebrating Prime Day with a protest -- Amazon has to do more than pay a $15 minimum wage to keep workers happy.

• Parenting can be a full-time job. Activists want the tax code to treat it that way. -- A “caregiver EITC” would reward parents who stay at home.
• The psychology of sales, explained-- Discounts make us think we’re getting a good deal. But are we really?

• As technology ratchets up the stress, low-wage jobs have become some of the hardest in America.
• At VidCon’s 10-Year Anniversary, Influencers, Fans, And Brands All Seem Ready To Leave YouTube Behind -- Say Hello to TikTok!

• Toxic lake in Russia’s Siberia becomes selfie sensation

• Old software makes new electoral systems ripe for hacking

• Children in states with strict gun laws are less likely to die, according to a new study

• Scientists close in on blood test for Alzheimer’s

• You’ve heard of lab-grown meat. Now there’s lab-grown ice cream. -- <blerg> Scientists have created a vegan treat that requires absolutely zilch from cows. Which doesn't make it 'ice cream.'

• The results of a carb-free diet -- Australian model sentenced for airline flight disturbance

• Patagonia, Lululemon, and more are coming out with “washless” clothing. Is it really better for the environment? -- Clothing you don’t have to wash, explained <blerg>

• Alleged manga pirate arrested in the Philippines

• Man sentenced to 2nd life term in Charlottesville car attack -- This will be a little slice of heaven for you. A microcosm of White Power/Nazi fellowship, with lively life or death discussions with a variety of gang affiliates.

• Churches promise sanctuary from migrant sweeps

• Refugee group: ‘Alarming’ that only 27% of funds received

Rape Culture and Patriarchy Updates:

• Epstein's accusers urge U.S. judge to keep him jailed until sex trafficking trial
• Women urge jail until trial for Epstein as judge weighs bail
• The remains of a Native American woman who went missing in October have been found
• Salvadoran accused of abortion faces retrial, hefty sentence
• Some Iranian women take off hijabs as hard-liners push back

Inch by inch ...

• Opioid 'kingpin' Johnson & Johnson fueled epidemic, Oklahoma argues at trial's end

• State investigating Wally Lamb’s inmate writing program

Peter Green, singer/songwriter for early Fleetwood Mac and as a solo artist

Edited July 16, 2019 by Cupid Stunt

[Cupid Stunt]

Quote

I find it fascinating that the pro-life industry isn't baying to strictly regulate IVF doctors/clinics/holding facilities. All those 'Snowflake Babies' left to the commercial mercies of godless science and nitrogen refrigeration technicians.  

22 hours ago, Capricasix said:

It’s because they haven’t been implanted yet. Some politician guy (of course it’s a man) from Alabama (I think, but no surprise there) said as much. I’ll see if I can find the quote.

Yup, here it is: https://www.glamour.com/story/alabama-abortion-ban-roe-v-wade-womens-rights/amp

I had to look up 'Snowflake Babies' again.

As you can read, organizations like Nightlight Christian Adoptions consider IVF-stored embryos as romanticized, full-blown 'babies'/persons waiting for a womb, an incubator, if you will. Apparently, along with every sperm being sacred,

(pardon the comic relief, but any day you can insert Monty Python into a discussion, is a very good day) so-called 'snowflake babies' are merely people standing in line to be born, waiting for their over-whelming Christian parents to chose them to be implanted by the humane donation of a frozen embryo conceived through in vitro fertilization. When George W. Bush banned embryonic stem cell research in 2001, he appeared publicly with snowflake children and their parents.

But is the possibility of embryo "adoption" really an argument against stem cell research? Not at all. There are approximately 400,000+ frozen embryos in the United States, but less than 2,000 children have been born through embryo donation. As Liza Mundy reported in a 2006 Mother Jones article, couples often agonize for years over what to do with embryos left-over from IVF treatments. But a study by Northwestern University psychologist Susan Klock found that almost every couple who believed they would donate an embryo to another, infertile couple ended up backing out. Why? It was just too strange for those parents to think of another family raising children that would have been, biologically, the full siblings of their own kids. Far more parents were comfortable with donating the embryos to scientific research, or simply allowing them to languish in a laboratory.

Given the tiny interest in embryo donation and adoption, there is no reason why embryonic stem cell research cannot coexist with 'snowflake' programs. Some experts, though, go even further, calling embryonic adoption unsafe. Arthur Kaplan, director of the Center for Bioethics at the University of Pennsylvania, has said such programs are a "sham" perpetrated by anti-abortion activists intent on portraying all fertilized eggs as full-fledged human beings. Kaplan writes, "If you are infertile and are trying to have a baby, your best bet is not to use a frozen embryo made by a couple who had themselves been going through infertility treatment and whose embryos were not used because they did not look healthy enough."

Here's another article from Pacific Standard on the complications of embryo adoption in the U.S.

Edited July 16, 2019 by Cupid Stunt

[peacheslatour]

Jewel has Steve chilled yet? 

[jewel21]

7 hours ago, peacheslatour said:

Jewel has Steve chilled yet? 

Eh, when I came home from work he was freaking out a bit but once I went downstairs he was quiet. He didn't seem to want to go to bed but he finally went into his cage. He's sleeping now. 

[Cupid Stunt]

• A Border Patrol Agent Reveals What It’s Really Like to Guard Migrant Children -- With the agency under fire for holding children in deplorable conditions and over racist and misogynistic Facebook posts, one agent speaks about what it’s like to do his job. “Somewhere down the line people just accepted what’s going on as normal.”

• Film airing on PBS recalls Bisbee, Arizona's dark deportation history

• Advocates hope Illinois private detention ban sparks change

• House passes amendment ordering Pentagon to review whether U.S. experimented with weaponizing ticks -- O_o

• American Society of Civil Engineers Infrastructure Report

• A man has been charged after police found more than 1,000 guns in his Los Angeles home 

• 76 billion opioid pills: Newly released federal data unmasks the opioid epidemic

• Study: Volkswagen cheated on emissions standards — and made thousands of kids sick

• Who gets to mourn a miscarriage? -- Partners and family members feel the loss too.

• Abigail Disney visited Disneyland undercover. She is 'livid' about what she saw

• Here’s why some activists and shoppers are calling for Amazon Prime Day boycotts -- Reportedly poor labor practices and ties to anti-immigration policy have spurred calls for avoiding the retail giant on its biggest shopping holiday.

• Amazon Prime Day could usher in a new wave of fear-based social media usage -- Amazon’s Ring was a Prime Day bestseller. Get ready for more neighborhood surveillance and fear-based social media.

• Ikea is closing its only US factory and moving production to Europe

• Canada releases a Canada-shaped coin for Canada Day

Good Morning Enablers!

• The ‘Lady of the House’ Who Was Long Entangled With Jeffrey Epstein
• The state of New York protected Jeffrey Epstein — not his victims -- A Manhattan prosecutor asked for Epstein to receive the lowest-level sex offender status. And Epstein never checked in with New York City police as required by law.

Grrr ….

• Feds warn UFO enthusiasts against storming Area 51: The military 'stands ready'

• Counting Down to Apollo 11 Anniversary

• Apollo 11 memorabilia sells for a high price — but who should really own NASA history? -- There’s been tension between NASA, collectors, and former astronauts over items that have been to the moon.

• How Chicago built house music from the ashes of disco -- With a disco sample and a drum machine, house music took over the globe. -- Ride on Time sung by the incomparable Loleatta Holloway

• India and Sri Lanka’s violent fight over fish -- How a maritime border created a conflict in the Indian Ocean.

• The dating algorithm that gives you just one match -- The Marriage Pact is designed to help college students find their perfect “backup plan.” -- Thing1 tried this at school, and the fellow she was matched with could only stare at her breasts and stammer. She declined another meeting on the same continent.

• K12.com exposed 7 million student records for a week -- Information included name, email, age and what school the student attends.

• Florida expert captures elusive alligator at Chicago lagoon -- Don't bring a knife to a gunfight.

• Chevron spills 800,000 gallons of oil, water in California

Taj Mahal, singer/songwriter

[pearlite]

Cupid, you follow newsfeeds-=have you seen The Loudest Voice yet, about Roger Ailes? Russell Crowe does a brilliant job, and the camera work is excellent.

[valleycliffe]

my hubby has been watching the series.  he says it's really good.

i have only seen the trailers for it tho...

is he wearing a fat suit or did he really gain all that weight?

[pearlite]

42 minutes ago, valleycliffe said:

my hubby has been watching the series.  he says it's really good.

i have only seen the trailers for it tho...

is he wearing a fat suit or did he really gain all that weight?

According to the Vanity Fair article, and to the NYT, he had a massive number of prosthetics and two full body suits.

But Russell is no dainty little flower to begin with.

[Cupid Stunt]

21 hours ago, pearlite said:

Cupid, you follow newsfeeds-=have you seen The Loudest Voice yet, about Roger Ailes? Russell Crowe does a brilliant job, and the camera work is excellent.

I watched the first episode; very well done. Russell Crowe is acting his brains out, but he doesn't come close to the dead stare Roger Ailes had. He was like a crocodile when the protective membrane cover the eyes before it strikes.

A profoundly sinister man.

Edited July 18, 2019 by Cupid Stunt

[jewel21]

Steve was a very good boy today. Minimal screaming and lots of tiny inquisitive chirping sounds. He also ate really well. 

Has anyone ever done one of those Ancestry DNA kits? It turns out my DNA is much more muddled than I thought it would be. Someone in the family liked to get around, hahaha. 

[PatsyandEddie]

My husband and I have both done the DNA thing. He was adopted and was curious about his background. I did mine out of curiosity and it showed basically what I thought with a couple of surprises. It’s been fun!

[Cupid Stunt]

Meet Major Motoko Kusanagi.

• When you give click-bait answers to click-bait questions, the results are to be expected --Scarlett Johansson on Freedom of Film Casting: "I Should Be Able to Play Any Person, Tree, Animal" -- Because the whitewashed stuntcasting of (Motoko Kusanagi) your character in Ghost in a Shell didn't profoundly ruin an already badly conceived and produced movie.

• Trevor Noah on Scarlett Johansson's Representation Comments: "We Take for Granted How It Shapes Society"

• You downloaded FaceApp. Here’s what you’ve just done to your privacy.

• Breaching a “carbon threshold” could lead to mass extinction -- Carbon dioxide emissions may trigger a reflex in the carbon cycle, with devastating consequences, study finds.

• Berleley becomes the first city to ban natual gas in new home construction

Waking up from the dark night of America's soul ...

• CBS News gets exclusive look inside America's largest migrant processing facility

• How to address the causes of the migration crisis, according to experts -- Migrants are fleeing Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador for the US. Here’s what filling the vacuum in U.S. foreign policy on Central America might look like.

• Jon Stewart rips blocking of 9/11 victims fund -- They show their loyalty to tax give-backs for the wealthy and corporations, but dissemble on a debt we owe 9/11 first responders 

• The WHO finally declared a public health emergency over Ebola -- The outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo has been ongoing since last August.  

• Microsoft reports hundreds of election-related cyber probes

• Oklahoma AG calls consumer products giant Johnson & Johnson ‘kingpin’ in state’s opioid crisis

• New data shows drug overdose deaths fell in 2018. But there’s a big catch. -- It would be the first decline in drug overdose deaths in decades. But there are reasons to be cautious.

• Data show many companies contributed to US opioid crisis

• The Sacklers made billions off the opioid crisis. The Louvre is taking their name off its walls. -- Museums have been grappling with revelations that the prominent philanthropists made money off prescriptions they knew caused addiction.

• “Everybody can be a sucker”: Marc Maron and Lynn Shelton on how conspiracy theories flourish

• Hot chocolate: 17 tons of cocoa burns on German highway -- <weeps>

Rejoice in all things, no matter how small or fleeting ...

• Australian finds message in a bottle written 50 years ago

• Georgia beachgoers help pilot whales from stranding on shore

• Animal rescue group needs help caring for 89 baby birds from damaged rookery

• Nesting penguins can’t resist lure of New Zealand sushi shop

• Sex toys will be officially sanctioned at CES after vibrator controversy -- We know how you are.

• Slick marketing, subscription models, and eco-consciousness are changing the TP landscape. -- Someone gives a crap.

• California officers reunite 250-pound tortoise with owners -- Said "Californy is the place I ought'a be." so he loaded up the shell and he moved to Beverly … Hills, that is. Swimmin pools, movie stars.

• Germany introducing mandatory measles vaccination for kids

• India’s trucks are works of art

Moon News!

• Going back to the moon could cost $30 billion. It might be worth it. -- If we collect more moon rocks, we could unlock secrets about the Earth, the moon, and the solar system … And how to exploit its untouched mineral riches.

• Meet Margaret Hamilton, the badass '60s programmer who saved the moon landing -- Her code fixed a malfunction that could’ve prevented Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong from landing safely.

• 9 terrific movies about landing on the moon, from the sublime to the ridiculous

Prince, singer/songwriter

It's HOT out there! Please take care of yourselves, your children and pets. Check on your neighbors. And keep hydrated!

[pearlite]

52 minutes ago, Cupid Stunt said:

It's HOT out there! Please take care of yourselves, your children and pets. Check on your neighbors. And keep hydrated!

And for those who think of TO and parts of Southern  Ontario as perpetually cold [and somehow full of mooses saying "eh" at the end of a sentence], I'd like to welcome you to 32C [90F] with 95% humidity. Chewy.

Actually it's nauseating, literally. And still. We walk in and out of various levels of AC and that alone feels nasty. Toronto has horrendous humidity in the summer. Mooses wouldn't stand for it.

Now, valleyfield on Vancouver Island has great weather!

And, while I'm at it, I'll move my response to the bagel issues to this thread. To say, to start with, bagels are by definition boiled before baking. Good bagels, that is, whether Montreal style or New York style. Otherwise, that round thing is a supermarket bun. Enjoyable maybe but not a bagel. TO has a crazy number of chi chi bagel joints serving all kinds of variations, but most people are still too dumb to drive up to the suburban Jewish neighbourhoods for actually good bagels. Or maybe some bialys.

Jewel can tell you about Montreal bagels, St Viateur-style. They're a bit sweet, boiled in sugar water, smaller in circumference, and baked in wood-fired ovens. Very little salt in the dough, and tougher to chew. They're a love/hate thing.

[Cupid Stunt]

2 hours ago, pearlite said:

And for those who think of TO and parts of Southern  Ontario as perpetually cold [and somehow full of mooses saying "eh" at the end of a sentence], I'd like to welcome you to 32C [90F] with 95% humidity. Chewy.

If it isn't raining, that's some serious tropical goop … Nasty.

I'm a desert person, so 95% humidity is going to a steam bath to sweat it out and open the pores for extraction. 

Quote

Actually it's nauseating, literally. And still. We walk in and out of various levels of AC and that alone feels nasty. Toronto has horrendous humidity in the summer. Mooses wouldn't stand for it.

Now, valleyfield on Vancouver Island has great weather!

Oof! Have mercy on dem' poor mooses!

There's nothing worse than going from AC/heat/AC/heat/AC/hot car belching out AC/heat/ meat locker AC/heat radiating off sidewalk/AC … I carry a sweater or blazer from location to location because you never know how cold it's going to be indoors.

Moving the Algonquin Piano Bar to Valley's house for the duration!

Whoever is bring Peaches' dip, triple the recipe. I called the liquor store for the usual libations and extra ice.

; )

Quote

And, while I'm at it, I'll move my response to the bagel issues to this thread. To say, to start with, bagels are by definition boiled before baking. Good bagels, that is, whether Montreal style or New York style. Otherwise, that round thing is a supermarket bun. Enjoyable maybe but not a bagel. TO has a crazy number of chi chi bagel joints serving all kinds of variations, but most people are still too dumb to drive up to the suburban Jewish neighbourhoods for actually good bagels. Or maybe some bialys.

I thought all bagels were boiled, otherwise they weren't bagels. 

My neighborhood panadería (Mexican bakery) makes excellent bagels, but my favorite LA bagels are from Nate’n Al's Delicatessen; not too big, crusty, with a chewy interior and a light yeasty bite.

So hungry ....

Quote

Jewel can tell you about Montreal bagels, St Viateur-style. They're a bit sweet, boiled in sugar water, smaller in circumference, and baked in wood-fired ovens. Very little salt in the dough, and tougher to chew. They're a love/hate thing.

The bagels I had for breakfast at the InterContinental Hotel were delicious. They had ricotta and honey, with pear slices ...

Gotta' go to lunch now … 

[valleycliffe]

8 minutes ago, Cupid Stunt said:

Moving the Algonquin Piano Bar to Valley's house for the duration!

woo hoooooo.....ok, going to clean up the house now....

[peacheslatour]

1 hour ago, valleycliffe said:

woo hoooooo.....ok, going to clean up the house now....

I'm fairly close here in Seattle. I'll grab a bottle of something and be right up!

[Petunia13]

Since I’ve been transferred nothing good has come of it. My store is in a city has no employee parking so I parked on the street in a few blocks away and the alarm was set off. So my car was towed. There goes $255. Plus I can’t pick it up tomorrow and George was waiting the entire time I was looking for it. At first the police told me they didn’t tow it. Then after 40 minutes they did but then tow place said they didn’t have it ect 

[jewel21]

8 hours ago, pearlite said:

Jewel can tell you about Montreal bagels, St Viateur-style. They're a bit sweet, boiled in sugar water, smaller in circumference, and baked in wood-fired ovens. Very little salt in the dough, and tougher to chew. They're a love/hate thing.

Montreal bagels are amazing. We had a client that would bring us freshly made St. Viateur bagels every Wednesday with a tub of cream cheese. Sadly, the N.D.G location closed recently because the owners of the building wanted to sharply raise the rent. The downtown location is still around but no more bagels for us because the client doesn't live downtown. 

I have never tasted a NY bagel so I don't know how they differ from the Montreal version. 

[OhioSongbird]

I love bagels and being in the boonies there isn't anyplace close for real bagels so I have to make do with store boughts  😞

There was one place in the village that had awesome scones but the owner, alas, passed away a couple of years ago.

Now I'm craving a bagel...I've got cream cheese and strawberry jam.

[peacheslatour]

2 hours ago, Petunia13 said:

Since I’ve been transferred nothing good has come of it. My store is in a city has no employee parking so I parked on the street in a few blocks away and the alarm was set off. So my car was towed. There goes $255. Plus I can’t pick it up tomorrow and George was waiting the entire time I was looking for it. At first the police told me they didn’t tow it. Then after 40 minutes they did but then tow place said they didn’t have it ect 

Holy shit dude, can I help?

[Snaporaz]

I guess I have to sit at a table all by myself, a table where they aren't serving bagels.  Bagels are what I imagine pencil erasers taste like.  

Awww, poor George!  I wish there were some way we could make pets understand what's going on when we have to deal with stupid crap.

I bet Steve was acting up because he probably thought that every time jewel left the house, she wouldn't come back for a week.

We're also having the soupy weather here in PA.  Today, my squirrel visitor took the almonds I left for him out of the sun and moved them one by one into the shade to eat them.

[jewel21]

Weather in Montreal is terrible. Today wasn't too bad humidity wise, but it's going to be terrible over the weekend. Italy was hot but not humid. The day I came back home I broke into a sweat just putting out the garbage cans. 

I think you're right, Snaporaz, in regards to Steve. He's been much calmer the past couple of days. 

[Petunia13]

I meant I cant pick it up till tomorrow since looking for the car and dealing w the phone jazz off locating it made me on a time crunch to pick George. Yes I’m being a baby (GIPHY doesn’t have a “Kim there are people dying in world” gif, why, that’s like the most relevant quote from Keeping Up With the Kardashian’s)  at any rate I have had a billion signs to quit this store 😂 🏃🏻‍♀️ the good news is at least my car wasn’t stolen and G wasn’t mad when I got him, he rained kisses on me. Our fur and feather babies are angels 

[Snaporaz]

Oh, I knew George wasn't in the car, but he still must have been wondering why mom was late picking him up!

[Cupid Stunt]

• Church sign in Virginia says "America: Love or Leave It." -- Best Regards from the Friendship Baptist Church of Appomattox, Virginia. I understand there's an appropriate courthouse available for the surrender of all traitors.

• Capitol Police arrest 70 in immigration protests, including 90-year-old nun

• Across US, clergy mobilize to support vulnerable migrants

• Convenience store clerk says customers 'need to go back to their country' in video confrontation

• Germany honors resisters who tried to assassinate Hitler

• Prosecutors bring rare criminal charges against Ohio opioid distributor

• Buried in opioids, sickened community eyes drug makers’ role

• Living in Cars Is Becoming Even More of a Thing in Los Angeles

• San Francisco proposes safe parking for homeless

• A raging wildfire is burning nearly 7,000 acres near Arizona's Prescott National Forest

• New York’s climate plan will drive big changes, if it works

• Canadian platform spills 3,200 gallons of oil-mix into Atlantic

• Environmental Protection Agency rejects proposed ban on chlorpyrifos, despite growing evidence of its toxicity

• Paint makers reach $305 million settlement in California, ending marathon lead poisoning lawsuit

• How lithium-rich Chile botched a plan to attract battery makers

• Times Investigation: Homeland Insecurity Theater has gutted programs aimed at detecting weapons of mass destruction

• George Will makes the conservative case against democracy -- Majority rule will be the death of the American experiment, and that the conservative project is at odds with democracy. Translation: Everything for me. None for thee.

• Google Protest Leader Leaves, Warns of Company's Unchecked Power

• Here’s where the US government is using facial recognition technology to surveil Americans -- A new map shows how widespread the use of facial recognition technology has become.

• About 10,000 au pairs to get paid in class-action settlement

• The Raise the Wage Act will tie future increases to changes in middle-class pay.

• Utah boy advertises ‘Ice Cold Beer’ at root beer stand -- Ingenuity, in spite of an overwhelming restrictive culture and liquor laws to the contrary.

It's a start ...

• Epstein denied bail in sex abuse case
• Epstein defense offers explanation for foreign passport

• Scientists are grappling with our biggest limitation in spaceflight: our own bodies -- We’ve sent people to space for decades — but we’re only beginning to learn what that means for human health.

• Married trophy hunters who kissed over dead lion face social media hate

• Where lions once ruled, they are now quietly disappearing -- There are half as many African lions than there were 25 years ago. Conservation programs aim to protect the disappearing species by promoting human-lion cohabitation across the African savanna.

Jon Langford and Tom Greenhalgh of the Mekons, singer/songwriters

Edited July 19, 2019 by Cupid Stunt

[pearlite]

11 hours ago, Snaporaz said:

I guess I have to sit at a table all by myself, a table where they aren't serving bagels.  Bagels are what I imagine pencil erasers taste like. 

We're also having the soupy weather here in PA.  Today, my squirrel visitor took the almonds I left for him out of the sun and moved them one by one into the shade to eat them.

What, you didn't chew pencil erasers out of boredom in public school? Then start on making tooth-patterns on the pencils themselves?

Actually, I never know what all the fuss is with bagels--they've just always been around, some better than others. Not a specialty food at all. What I really have trouble finding that was a constant when I was growing up is good caraway rye bread.

Toronto's legendary humidity in summer is a Western Canadian joke. Bananna is somewhere on the prairies, I think. But this is true to a crazy extent, especially with people from Winnipeg, which has that extreme prairie weather winter and summer. And the first things anyone from Winnipeg will say by way of heat comparison to TO [in summer] is, "It's not the heat, it's the humidity." In winter they say of ultra-arctic Winnipeg [block heaters in cars], "Yes, but it's a dry cold."

[boes]

1 hour ago, pearlite said:

Toronto's legendary humidity in summer is a Western Canadian joke. Bananna is somewhere on the prairies, I think. But this is true to a crazy extent, especially with people from Winnipeg, which has that extreme prairie weather winter and summer. And the first things anyone from Winnipeg will say by way of heat comparison to TO [in summer] is, "It's not the heat, it's the humidity." In winter they say of ultra-arctic Winnipeg [block heaters in cars], "Yes, but it's a dry cold."

Hahahaha!!

And you've also just described how a U.S. midwesterner and a Californian talk about the heat.  Californians mostly do not know from snow unless it involves skis and cocktails in hot tubs afterwards.  And if you're a former midwesterner in California, you might SAY you miss the snow but oh, I don't I don't I don't....