Bobby Foster Road. I've never heard of it but an amazing number of scenes have been filmed there.I replied:
Oh, this is quite good! The fellow here is very proud of a “Better Call Saul” Season 5 scene he was in. I happened to be at Tractor Brewing Co. in ABQ when the scene aired, and the fellow was there too, so I was able to congratulate him in person.
The fellow also identifies several new films I haven’t heard of. I looked closely at ABQ films in 2018-19, but newer films have come out since then, and he names them.
Yes, Bobby Foster Road is just a short distance from Q Studios, and it’s not quite a public road either, with gates that can be closed to limit traffic anytime one desires, so it’s the filmmakers’ cheapest, go-to road for desert scenes. Dozens more films and TV shows have used that stretch of road. Probably TV commercials too. Every one has been there, at least virtually.
Bobby Foster was a reasonably well-known boxer, most-famous for getting his ass kicked by Joe Frazier back in the day. I don’t think Bobby Foster spent any time on Bobby Foster Road, however.
Victoria Apanasenko displayed the costume she'll be wearing to represent Ukraine at the Miss Universe contest.
According to designer Lesya Patoka, the outfit symbolizes "Ukraine's struggle with darkness" and at the same time "carries light".
I guess I'm a Bad Environmentalist. Like many earnest liberals, I donate to as many environmental organizations as my feeble budget will support. Among these donations is $15/month to The Nature Conservancy. I appreciate that sometimes it is insufficient to place land under federal supervision to actually preserve it. It is sometimes necessary to buy the land outright, working with nearby stakeholders and land owners, and that is the mission of The Nature Conservancy.
I joined The Nature Conservancy in 1987 as part of a membership drive in southern Arizona. At the time, a number of Wilderness Study Areas (WSAs) were under consideration for Wilderness status. We were encouraged to adopt a WSA and track its progress. I adopted the Dos Cabezas WSA, but in typical Bad Environmentalist fashion, I never spent any time there, but sometimes waved hello from my VW Bug as I passed distantly by on Interstate 10 on trips to Albuquerque.
But I kept donating to the organization. So, after 35 years, unbeknownst to me, I slowly bubbled into view of Conservancy leadership. I received a nice letter:
"I am writing to share my sincere gratitude for your 35 years of support.... [I]t would be my privilege to learn what inspires you to be a champion for nature. If I may, I shall call you in the next week, or so, to say hello... We are so fortunate to have you as part of the conservation community."
The phone call was SO nice! It was very flattering for a small donor like myself to get this kind of lavish attention. But little doubts arose in my head. Why were they being so nice? Eventually, they got to the point. As I approach the oblivion of death, I need a Legacy. Would I consider The Nature Conservancy in my final arrangements? They already have benefitted from magnificent legacies, such as a large ranch in Southern California. I could join them.
Well, I have my house, but I don't it will be worth so much as to preserve all that much land. Maybe enough land to get idle teenagers into trouble, but not enough to extricate themselves. And I still need the house to live in. I'm not dead yet. And what about other legacies to my family?
Still, I was getting distracted by my "Breaking Bad" and "Better Call Saul" books, so I put all this and much else out of my mind for several months. In that period, my credit card was replaced, which stopped the automatic $15/month donation to The Nature Conservancy. I wasn't paying attention, though. I'd get around to fixing the problem when I had time. And I stopped reading my correspondence.
So, I finally noticed I got a letter:
"I'm writing to confirm that your Conservation Champion status and $15 recurring gift have been canceled.... If there is anything we could have done to make your experience as a Conservation Champion better, or more rewarding, I hope you let us know."
Ow! I hurt their feelings! But I wasn't trying to throw shade, I just wasn't paying attention. I didn't read my correspondence, so I didn't even know I was a Conservation Champion. It sounds exalted, like a green superhero, but somehow I never noticed.
So, now I'm trying to restart my $15/month donation. I'm no longer a Conservation Champion, which I guess confirms that I'm a Bad Environmentalist. But I feel a weight has somehow lifted from my shoulders. I take it all as an omen that becoming a Bad Environmentalist means I won't die after all, so have no need for a Legacy. I'll just keep rolling down the freeway, waving at WSAs I'll never visit, and ignoring earnest letters.
On Dec. 21st, I took Jasper on a walk that also stopped at the local post office, where I had to buy some stamps and drop off some Christmas cards. At first, I tied Jasper up outside the post office on a bike rack, but he looked so forlorn and vulnerable out there on the urban sidewalk that I decided to bring him into the lobby instead, come what may.
The lobby was jumping with Christmas-shipping traffic. Jasper was nervous about being in close quarters with so many strange people, so he pulled me on his leash over to a ceiling-to-floor window, silently pleading with me to take him outside instead. I was determined to keep him there, though, so he settled into a uncomfortable sitting pose, as people buzzed all about him.
The fellow ahead of me in line was trying to ship an unusually large box. I understood from his conversation with the postal clerk that there was a tricycle in the box. The postal clerk quoted a $90 charge to ship the box. Crestfallen, the man asked "is that the cheapest possible rate?" Indeed, it was. His options were take the box elsewhere, to FedEx or UPS, where shipping rates would be higher, or not to ship the box at all, or to accept the charge. Explaining further, the man said shipping the box was his wife's idea (I bet the tricycle was hardly worth more than $90), but since there were so few days left before Christmas he had few options, so he surrendered and paid the rate.
When I reached the exhausted postal clerk, she looked at Jasper, and quoted the rule, "dogs are not allowed in the lobby," but uncomfortable Jasper had already been there for some time. Best to quickly finish my business. I smiled, bought some stamps, handed over cards for mailing, and left. I finally took Jasper out into the sunshine, where he ecstatically resumed his mission to sniff and mark every single bush in the neighborhood.
I got my asteroid yesterday. 28581-Dyerlytle is 1-2 km in diameter with an eccentricity of 0.120. My thanks to Lowell Observatory.
@downloader.world Wednesday Addams Dance Scene #wednesdayaddams #fyp #movieclips #fypã‚· #viral #tiktok #greenscreen #weddingtiktok ♬ original sound - Downloader.world
Aningaaq presents the other side of that conversation, introducing Orto Ignatiussen as the title character, an Inuit fisherman on a remote fjord in Greenland, where the short was shot on location. The connection to Gravity is seamless, as Bullock's dialogue is included in full here and Aningaaq's side is heard in the film. The short reinforces the impact of the scene in Gravity, going far beyond a tie-in gimmick and adding to the artistry of the movie in a unique way.
Physicists have since the 1950s sought to harness the fusion reaction that powers the sun, but no group had been able to produce more energy from the reaction than it consumes — a milestone known as net energy gain or target gain, which would help prove the process could provide a reliable, abundant alternative to fossil fuels and conventional nuclear energy.
The federal Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California, which uses a process called inertial confinement fusion that involves bombarding a tiny pellet of hydrogen plasma with the world’s biggest laser, had achieved net energy gain in a fusion experiment in the past two weeks, the people said.
Although many scientists believe fusion power stations are still decades away, the technology’s potential is hard to ignore. Fusion reactions emit no carbon, produce no long-lived radioactive waste and a small cup of the hydrogen fuel could theoretically power a house for hundreds of years.
"They had a little pop there, just where Wagner headquarters was located. "A huge number of those who were there died."
...Gaidai did not give casualty figures, but he said those surviving faced inadequate medical services to treat them.
"I am sure that at least 50% of those who managed to survive will die before they get medical care," he said. "This is because even in our Luhansk region, they have stolen equipment."
Wowza!! I just saw this incredible interpretation of SWEET DREAMS…
— Annie Lennox (@AnnieLennox) December 10, 2022
Gentlemen..You’re AMAZING!!!
Thanks for choosing our song!
ps.. Who ARE you???? pic.twitter.com/uQFLUYZ5iI
In the case of W. hobdyi, there was thought to be less than 600 individuals growing along the Na Pali Coast. Many of Kauai's endangered plants sprout only from the steepest cliffs, where goats can't reach. But the foliage now spread out before Nyberg amounted to more than 100 plants. He flew the drone within 5 meters (16 feet) of the greenery, snapping high-resolution photos to confirm his findings back in the lab.
Nyberg and the National Tropical Botanical Garden (NTBG) team, working with the State of Hawaii's Division of Forestry and Wildlife, have rediscovered three species thought to be extinct or locally extinct from Kauai and uncovered larger populations of many other critically endangered species with populations smaller than 100 individuals.
Please stop. Enough with this talk of whether the Republican Party will finally rid itself of Donald Trump. Drop this speculation that the GOP, due to its poor performance in the midterm elections or Trump’s latest outrage (dining with a Nazi, calling for the “termination” of the US Constitution, or whatever), will pull the plug on him. You can call on Republicans to take a courageous stand of principle against Dear Leader—and, of course, they should—but don’t do so expecting that will have any impact on Trump’s standing and his future prospects. The party cannot de-Trumpify by decree.
Mars is at the Moon's 8-o'clock position.
It is with a heavy heart that we share the news that our beloved actor James “Jimmy” Ning passed away on Tuesday, November 29 in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Jimmy was best known for his recurring fan-favorite role of “Mr. Duane Chow” on Breaking Bad. As a veteran stage and screen character actor, he had memorable roles in The Ridiculous 6 (2015) and Perception (2012), among many others.
Jimmie Ning as Duane Chow at the Unofficial Breaking Bad Fan Tour (UBBFT) Dinner at Garduño's on September 28, 2013.
Jimmie Ning as Duane Chow.Though many people bring their canine companions to Curtis Park’s Sierra 2 Center, the city of Sacramento intends to start enforcing leash requirements. Signs are set to go up within the next two weeks telling park-goers that off-leash dogs are prohibited.
John Malin, a Curtis Park resident, comes to the park with Toby the puppy once a week. He doubts the city policy will stick. “I have a hard time believing anybody’s gonna follow that.”
But Sierra 2, the city said, is an off-the-books dog park. While the grassy field was cleared for use as a dog training area during specified hours more than 20 years ago, civil servants never intended it to be the full-fledged dog park it has become.
“The park in its current state does not meet the requirements of a dog park for off-leash use and continued use presents health and safety issues that (Youth, Parks, Community & Enrichment) must address,” the city said in a statement.
The area where dogs play is not fully fenced and it’s the wrong size, said Gabby Miller, a spokesperson for the parks department. Sierra 2 also lacks the double-fence gates that help prevent dogs from scampering out onto the street.
[Ali] Alexander also used the livestream to issue a surprisingly curt warning to Trump: "I need the former president to know that his Truth post was inappropriate, it was unbecoming and I'm not going to allow it, frankly," Alexander said, referring to a post in which Trump referred to Ye as a "seriously troubled man, who just happens to be black." Alexander continued, "You gotta watch your mouth when you're talking about my Christian brothers in an un-Christian way."
"Ye is completely enamored with Nick [Fuentes] because Nick is very talented at articulating ... the third way in dealing with the challenges that Christendom faces with Jewish power."
Continuing on to argue that the Mar-a-Lago dinner served as a reminder to Trump not to neglect his white base, Alexander continued, "Trump's got to choose: Which way, Western man? Which way? Are you going to try to do a toned-down, subdued announcement so you can run acceptable to Rupert Murdoch, or are we going to bend Fox News, bend Newsmax, bend [The] Post Millennial, bend Steve Bannon into realizing that this party is permanently the America First party?"
That seeming ultimatum resonated with the observations of other commentators, who noted that the entire story of the Trump-Fuentes dinner points to a larger shift on the right: A growing sense that the Trump coalition or movement of 2016 is gone, but that Trumpism as a movement should continue not only to survive, but push the party further rightward.
What’s going on here? Well, Trafalgar founder Robert Cahaly is a longtime Republican operative (one who, as you can see from the TV screenshot above, lends himself an air of intellectual authority by wearing a bow tie). Many Republicans believe that independent polling operations are among the mainstream institutions biased against conservatives. During the 2012 presidential election, that feeling gave rise to a concept called “unskewing the polls,” which were said to be understating support for Mitt Romney.
They weren’t—Romney lost, and most polls actually overestimated his support—but during the next presidential cycle, Cahaly’s operation began putting out its first polls, which consistently suggested Donald Trump had a very good chance of defeating Hillary Clinton. Most other polls did not say this, and when Trump won, Cahaly became a polling celebrity.
In 2020, Trafalgar’s polls said the same thing—that Trump was going to win. Of course, Trump did not win, but Tralfagar retained much of its influence, including among mainstream reporters. This was partly because Nate Silver’s site FiveThirtyEight continued to give the group an A-minus rating for its overall accuracy despite some concerns about its transparency. (Many other polls in 2020 were off in the other direction, i.e., overestimating support for Joe Biden.) Cahaly’s outlier optimism about Republican chances continued unabated this cycle, and was arguably instrumental in creating the narrative of a rising red wave that never materialized. (Presumably, that A-minus is about to drop).
This is one of the strangest and most offputting videos ever put out by a campaign pic.twitter.com/sdbJwnuoXL
— cityafreaks (@cityafreaks) November 12, 2022
Comedian Gallagher, best known for his watermelon-smashing comedy routine and many popular specials in the 1980s, died Friday morning, according his manager Craig Marquardo. He was 76.
According to a statement provided to CNN by Marquardo, the comedian died “after a short health battle” and “passed away surrounded by his family in Palm Springs, California.”
Gallagher, born Leo Gallagher, became a household name in the early ’80s with a comedy special titled “An Uncensored Evening,” the first comedy stand up special ever to air on cable television, according to an obituary shared by Marquardo.
Gallagher’s most famous bit involved a hand-made sledgehammer he called the “Sledge-O-Matic,” which he would use to smash food on stage, spraying the audience.
I have to thank @chrislhayes for broadcasting the most satisfying 2-minutes of television I've watched today. A perfect encapsulation of what Fox News has looked like over the past several months. pic.twitter.com/VTtV4KijYf
— Craig Harrington (@Craigipedia) November 10, 2022
