I may be slightly obsessed with the topic, but we need more bathrooms!
When my wife and I went to Proctors Theatre a couple of times in the last month, I was pained by the fact that the guys (e.g., I) could walk past the line of about 15 women waiting to go into the bathroom and got right into the men’s room. When they (e.g., I) came out, there were 20 women in line.
This is so not right.
My church is discussing getting more bathrooms on the main floor, which currently has one unisex bathroom and one women’s bathroom. Every time people visit the church, usually for weddings or funerals, the guys wander around trying to find another loo. There’s a men’s room on the second floor, but there may be more.
Albany Public Library’s Washington Ave. branch needs more bathrooms. I swear it used to have more, but only two unisex rooms exist presently. When one of them is broken down, the line outside the door gets long. One time, a guy got impatient and started pounding on the door. I didn’t share with him that it would have slowed my progress from leaving if I had been in the bathroom and someone was pounding on the door. It’s not unlike what happens when I’m crossing the street with the light in my favor, and some car comes up about three feet from where I’m crossing at the crosswalk and beeps at me; I suddenly become 102 and take forever to get across the street.
The local Dunkin requires a purchase before access is allowed. A recent patron complained, “I have to buy a doughnut so I don’t pee my pants?”
Women’s Soccer
“In October 2023, CPKC proudly announced an agreement with the KC Current for naming rights to the first stadium in the world purpose-built for a professional women’s sports team.
“Located near downtown Kansas City, Mo., CPKC Stadium is a seven-acre site at the east end of Berkley Riverfront Park. The 11,500-seat stadium opened on March 16, 2024, with the Kansas City Current’s home opener.”
CBS News had a crew there for the National Women’s Soccer League finals a few months ago. They noted that the stadium was sustainable, accessible, and, not incidentally, had enough bathrooms.
Catbird: “When I viewed it again, it looked like a heart that had been run over by a tire, which reflected my yet-unrealized reaction to what DOGE had just started. My conscious mind didn’t know yet, but my hand did. What a revelation!”
Patriotic Millionaires challenge oligarch power with sweeping economic plan: How to Beat the Broligarchs
EFF’s lawsuit against DOGE will go forward. ”Sweeping and uncontrolled access by DOGE agents who were not properly vetted or trained.”
Did you hear Canadians are wearing MAGA hats? There, they mean Make America Go Away
Working to Preserve .Gov Websites. “Web archiving is more than just preserving history—it’s about ensuring access to information for future generations. “
Tuberculosis Is Back in the Spotlight. Does the U.S. Even Care?
Buster Keaton made a silent film AND a talkie … in 1965
Lucille Ball – ‘America Alive!’ 1978 [Interview]. from that, a viral clip: When Lucy said, “Take your hands off her, David.”
Val Kilmer, An Unclassifiable Heartthrob Who Always Had an Edge
Jay North, Child Star of ‘Dennis the Menace,’ Dies at 73. He was best known for playing the towheaded Dennis Mitchell on a sitcom that ran on CBS from 1959 to 1963, which I watched.
Goodbye Park City: Sundance Film Festival Heading to Colorado
Appeals Court Orders Thousands of Voters to Verify Information in Contested N.C. Election. The ruling was a win for the Republican who narrowly lost a State Supreme Court race in November. The case has tested the boundaries of post-election litigation.
His order on voter policy could disenfranchise millions, but multiple lawsuits have already sprung up to challenge it.
Judd Legum on Popular Information: “Musk has set a goal to cut $1 trillion annually from federal spending through DOGE. But his efforts have largely ignored the DoD, according to data compiled by the Musk Watch DOGE Tracker.”
HHS Job Cuts: Entire CDC Team Focused On Infertility And IVF Is ‘Gone’
Not to mention…
States Challenge Trump’s Effort to Dismantle Library Agency. In a lawsuit, 21 state attorneys general argued that the steep cuts to the Institute of Museum and Library Services violate the Constitution and other federal laws related to spending. Call on Congress to Protect Federal Library Funding
Smithsonian’s Chief in the Hot Seat. The executive order demanding change at the institution presents a perilous test for Lonnie G. Bunch III, its secretary, whom the White House calls a partisan Democrat.
‘It’s a shambles’: DOGE cuts bring chaos, long waits at Social Security for seniors. “Elderly and disabled people — and those who care for them — are encountering a knot of bureaucratic hurdles and service disruptions… ‘The system, it’s broken down,’ Veronica Sanchez, a 52-year-old medical practice manager in Canoga Park, said, after calling a Social Security hotline and waiting on hold for six hours.”
FOTUS Is Trying to Axe Collective Bargaining for 1 Million Federal Employees
LA Times: Regime “has issued an order demanding that all national parks remain open amid severe staffing shortages — an action that one conservation group called ‘reckless and out of touch’ as park personnel brace for millions of visitors this summer.
‘I was a British tourist trying to leave the US. Then I was detained, shackled and sent to an immigration detention centre’
Trans Athletes and Tasers & Excited Delirium: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver
Another rupture: Keystone pipeline shutdown threatens fuel prices and exposes pattern of failure
Critic’s Notebook: ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ and Trump, Reunited
An Experiment in Recklessness: The global trading system is only one example of the administration tearing something apart, only to reveal that it has no plan for how to replace it.
Why Lutnick Displaced Musk As ‘Most Loathed’ Adviser. Lutnick: “The army of millions and millions of human beings screwing in little screws to make iPhones — that kind of thing is going to come to America.”
I don’t make jokes. I just watch the government and report the facts.– Will Rogers
Former President Harry S Truman appeared on Jack Benny’s television show in 1959, when the show was filmed from the Truman Presidential Library in Independence, MO.
Was Binghamton unavailable?
Rhode Island plays a starring role in the forthcoming Rod Serling documentary:
“The state’s Film & Television Office… touted how the Ocean State is playing a starring role in a forthcoming documentary on the life of Rod Serling, the legendary mastermind and iconic narrator behind the pioneering, 1950s and ‘60s science-fiction television series, ‘The Twilight Zone.’
“The film, authorized by Serling’s two daughters, Jodi Serling and Anne Serling, is being produced by Verdi Productions, an East Greenwich, R.I.-based production company. State officials announced… that Leonardo DiCaprio’s company, Appian Way Productions, has also joined the production…
“Although Serling, who died in 1975 at the age of 50, hailed from upstate New York, the documentarians used locations in East Greenwich, Providence, and Wakefield — the village in South Kingstown, R.I. — to help recreate moments in Serling’s life, ‘mirroring the same cinematic black and white style’ of his signature show, officials said.”
Here are a couple of Cub Scout pictures that my old friend Ray Lia recently sent me. I don’t think I was in the Scouts for very long because I wasn’t very good at knot-tying or whatever was required. I think I got through the Wolf level but not the Bear.
Our den mother was Ray’s very nice mom. When Ray married his wife, Pam, in the autumn of 1976, I got to escort Mrs. Lia to her seat. They are good at Christmas letters, whereas I am… not.
I had seen the color picture before. It was in a photo album with a bright red cover I used to own, which disappeared from my grandma Williams’ house on 13 Maple Street in Binghamton, NY, in the 1970s. The kid to the left is familiar, but I can’t place his name. Then there’s me, David Doyle, Ray in the hat, and a guy named Bill Davies also in the hat.
Not surprisingly, Ray, Bill, and David lived on Cypress Street in the First Ward of Binghamton. David lived on the corner of Mygatt Street, while Ray and Bill lived on the first block from Oak Street. Ray’s house was 7 1/2, about halfway between my grandma’s house and mine at 5 Gaines Street.
B&W
I don’t believe I ever owned the black-and-white photo. Most of the kids are vaguely familiar to me, but I have a terrible time remembering their names. I’m to the left. Ray is third from the left, and Bill Davies is to the far right.
Ray thinks there’s a guy named Darren or Darwin Rossi on the back left and John Sleazak or Slezak on the back right.
I’d appreciate it if you were of a certain age and could identify any of these people from Binghamton, NY. I’m also curious about the venues and times of both pictures. Ray, Bill, and I all look younger in the black-and-white picture than in the color one. Thanks for your help.
Welcome to Sunday Stealing. This odd little meme was stolen from Singularity, who originally posted them in September 2010.
But before that, here’s a picture of my backyard on Monday, April 7, at about 8 a.m. If you look very closely, you can see snow falling.
1. Do you own a pair of cargo pants?
No. I feel as though I did once upon a time.
2. Which of these gifts from a romantic partner would please you most: a) jewelry, b) wine, c) a book, d) something grown in his/her garden?
Definitely not wine. I have several bottles, undrunk. I’d say a book, though my list of unread books is long and getting longer.
3. Who was the last person to toss a harsh word or phrase your way? Do you think that maybe you had it coming?
I don’t recall unless we’re talking online. And to be honest, it wasn’t all that. In response to a Facebook post: “Just more left-wing propaganda. Anybody who can’t see it by now simply chooses not to.”
Theater
4. Did you appear in any plays back when you were in school? If yes, what role(s) did you play? Earn extra, non-existent points for sharing any of your dialog.
One was The Visit by Friedrich Dürrenmatt. “In this haunting and blistering play, a wealthy woman offers financial help to her struggling hometown – in exchange for the life of a man who wronged her years before.” I was the train conductor, trying to get the rich woman to comply with the rail line’s rules. My entire dialogue: “But madame…”
My most significant role was in The Bald Soprano by Eugene Ionesco, his first one-act antiplay (1950), which “inspired a revolution in dramatic techniques and helped inaugurate the Theatre of the Absurd. I played the Fire Chief. “Since you don’t have the time here, I must tell you that in exactly three-quarters of an hour and sixteen minutes, I’m having a fire at the other end of the city.”
5. Which Osmond do you like better: Donny or Marie?
I might have said Marie because I hated the Osmonds’ One Bad Apple, a ripoff of the Jackson 5ive. But I saw Close Every Door from Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, and it’s oddly fascinating.
6. Who is your favorite radio host or podcaster?
Brian Ibbott of Coverville, which is “a podcast, produced every Wednesday, that focuses on cover songs – a new rendition of a previously recorded song.” In fact, every month, I suggest musicians whose birthdays are divisible by five.
7. Is your personal workspace filled with fluffy, plastic, wind-up, rubbery, or edible items? Or are you all business and clutter-free?
There were 27 #1 hits of 1935. Rather than list them all here, I’ll break them in half.
Some notes about the charts. They were partly compiled from these sources: the weekly record-label bestseller charts ran in Variety until 1935. Billboard picked up these charts from November 1935 until early 1938. Metronome carried the charts until the end of 1938.
By 1934, Billboard and Variety began publishing rankings of the top songs for radio airplay and sheet music. Your Hit Parade launched its famous radio-broadcast song rankings in April 1935.
Cheek To Cheek – Fred Astaire with Leo Reisman and his orchestra (Brunswick), 11 weeks at #1. Written by Irving Berlin for the movie Top Hat; here are Astaire and Ginger Rogers from the film
Isle of Capri– Ray Noble and his Orchestra, Al Bowlly on vocals (Victor), 7 weeks at #1
When I Grow Too Old To Dream – Glen Gray and the Casa Loma Orchestra, Kenny Sargenton on vocals (Decca), 4 weeks at #1. Composed by Sigmund Romberg and Oscar Hammerstein II for the 1935 film musical “The Night Is Young.”
Red Sails In The Sunset – Guy Lombardo and his Royal Canadians, Carmen Lombardo on vocals (Decca), 4 weeks at #1
Lovely To Look At – Eddy Duchin and his orchestra, Lew Sherwood on vocals (Victor) 4 weeks at #1. Written by Hammerstein II-Fields-McHugh-Kern for the 1935 film treatment of “Roberta.” The song was not in the 1933 stage version.
She’s A Latin from Manhattan – Victor Young and his orchestra, Hal Burke, on vocals. (Decca), 4 weeks at #1. From the 1935 Warner Brothers film “Go Into Your Dance” starring Al Jolson and Ruby Keeler, score by Harry Warren-Al Dubin.
In A Gypsy Tea Room – Bob Crosby and his orchestra, Crosby on vocals (Decca) 3 weeks at #1
Simply because you’re near me
I’m In The Mood For Love – Little Jack Little and his orchestra (Columbia), 3 weeks at #1. From the 1935 Paramount musical “Every Night At Eight” starring George Raft
I Won’t Dance – Eddy Duchin and his orchestra, Lew Sherwood on vocals (Victor) 3 weeks at #1. Written by Hammerstein II-Fields-McHugh-Kern for the 1935 film treatment of “Roberta.” The song was not in the 1933 stage version.
Truckin’ – Fats Waller (Victor), 3 weeks at #1. From “Cotton Club Parade, 26th Edition.” Written by Ted Koehler-Rube Bloom
Chasing Shadows – Dorsey Brothers Orchestra, Bob Eberle on vocals (Decca), 3 weeks at #1
You Ae My Lucky Star – Eddie Duchin Orchestra, Lew Sherwood on vocals (Victor), 3 weeks at #1. From the film “Broadway Melody of 1936” written by Arthur Freed-Nacio Herb Brown.
Blue Moon – Glen Gray and the Casa Loma Orchestra, Kenny Sargent on vocals (Decca) 3 weeks at #1. “Lorenz Hart had written THREE previously unsuccessful or unused sets of lyrics for this Richard Rodgers melody. Obviously, his 4th attempt was the charm.” Or not. “Blue Moon was composed in 1931 by a 17-year-old, Edward W. Roman, the son of Polish immigrants, after an evening of moonlit skating on a pond in upstate New York.” in any case, I’m a sucker for the version by the Marcels.
I may be slightly obsessed with the topic, but we need more bathrooms!
Here are a couple of Cub Scout pictures that my old friend Ray Lia recently sent me. I don’t think I was in the Scouts for very long because I wasn’t very good at knot-tying or whatever was required. I think I got through the Wolf level but not the Bear. 
There were 27 #1 hits of 1935. Rather than list them all here, I’ll break them in half.