Inch Deep, Mile Wide

Gloomy, gloomy, gloomy

2026-08-31T04:05:55Z

No beach today. It was cloudy and dark for a good part of the day with breaks of sunshine that make you think "I should have gone to the beach" followed by long periods of gloom.

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A website set up to recreating defraging your computer in 1998 is here. Delightful.

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For my sports viewing heart, I love these next few weeks. ESPN will have tennis on either the main channel or the Deuce from 12N ET until they're done. There is meaningful baseball being played. College football and the NFL are starting. This is all good. I watched the Yankee game at 1:30PM, caught the end of the Mets game on NBC (national afternoon broadcast), stayed with the primetime baseball on NBC (which wasn't close) and then flipped over to ESPN to see Djokovic in the battle of his late career not to get knocked out of the US Open (spoiler alert - he lost).

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The Giants got down to their "final" 53-players for the season. Teams go into training camp with no more than 95 players trying to make the team. Obviously guys like Patrick Mahomes, Saquon Barkley or Lamar Jackson are automatics to their teams 53. Cutdown day like today is usually getting guys 40 to 53 on the team. One of the guys making the Giants in those final spots was Odell Beckham Jr. – back to where it all started. A good look at how the Giants made Beckham's diva behavior work for them over the years:

Giants traded Odell Beckham to Browns in 2019 in package including first round pick.
Giants took DT Dexter Lawrence with the pick.
They traded Lawrence to Bengals in April for first round pick
They used Cincy's pick to take G-T Sisi Mauigoa.
NYG got 7 good yrs out of Lawrence.…
— Gary Myers (@GaryMyersNY) August 31, 2026

Beckham has been a model citizen this time out. I think he knows this is his last dance.

The Giants cut Evan Neal, the offensive lineman they drafted five years ago with a first-round pick. Neal never worked out. He was booed last year and gave a post-game interview saying the fans are nothing but losers who are leaving the stadium to go back to their jobs flipping hamburgers while he's living his dream. You can imagine how well that set with the Mara family.

There is a waiver wire. Teams can pick up other teams' cut players and then cut a player on their team so the rosters are mostly locked.

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The Yankees hit today. Oh did they hit. They won 16-1 but more importantly won the season series against the Red Sox, 7-6. There was a controversial call in fifth inning where I thought the Red Sox outfielder made a diving catch but the first base umpire disagreed, saying the ball hit the ground. The play was reviewed and stood. I think it stood because there wasn't clear and conclusive proof the ball was caught. NESN didn't show the angle the YES Network showed that had the ball on the ground. The game was 2-0 Yankees at that point. Four pitches later, Red Sox Pitcher Ranger Suarez gave up a three-run home run. The Yankees were off to the races at that point.

After the game, I heard a little of the Red Sox post-game show where they were still complaining about the right field dimensions. Dudes, the park was built in 2009. The fence hasn't moved. They don't move it in when the Yankees bat and move it back when the visitors are hitting. The Yankees built a team to hit their home ballpark. Kinda think most teams do.

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Today's moment of happiness: I'm telling you, Knicks summer never ends.

KNICKS IN 5 https://t.co/ynVmsyHqm5
— Ashley Nicole Moss (@AshNicoleMoss) August 20, 2026

Take Care
Mara

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Lilac Stink

2026-08-02T03:21:54Z

Woke up this morning with a blinding headache and nauseous. I haven't felt like that in years. Rolled over, went back to sleep and slept until nearly noon. Felt a little better and by two or so, felt a lot better. Have no idea what happened but that was weird.

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Allow me to make one of the most first world-y complaints ever.

Here at Mr. Landlord's, we have a trash chute in the hallway. You have a small trash pail in your apartment's kitchen and bathroom, you used to put the plastic bags you got from the grocery store as liners, fill up the plastic bag, tie it up and toss it down the trash chute. Easy-peasy lemon-squeezy. It is actually a great way not to get bugs because at best, anything in the kitchen trash is there for less than two or three days.

Then New York state made plastic grocery bags illegal. One of the supermarkets near me started selling the packs of store branded plastic bags they had - $1 for 25-bags. One of the supermarkets by the beach club just said "forget that noise" and used the plastic bags for another couple of years. Someone finally ratted them out.

I finally ran out of the store branded bags earlier this year. The Target across the street from Mr. Landlord's had really pricey small trash pail liners (the big ones were cheaper because nobody buys them). Saw that Amazon had them for about 60% of the price so I ordered.

I did not see that the liners were "scented". Allegedly, they smell like lilacs but they really smell like chemicals. And by smell, I mean I can smell the liner in a trash pail in the living room, separated by a full wall from the kitchen. When I put the liner in the trash pail, my hands smelled. I always washed my hands after putting the liner in anyway (wash your effin' hands) and they still smelled. I never used them in my tiny bathroom because it took three days to get the kitchen to stop stinking (only to start stinking again with a new liner), I can't imagine how overwhelming the bathroom smell would be.

Went back to Amazon, found that you can order 100 unbranded plastic grocery store bags for about what I paid for the super stinky liners. Did that. What a difference that made.

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Vincent Pastore, Salvatore "Big Pussy" Bonpensiero on The Sopranos died in his sleep at age 80. Pastore made a good career playing mob guys on TV and in movies. He also sold his family's red sauce, Vinny Pastore's Italian Sauce.

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Today's long reads:

As Mets honor 1986 champions, the uplifting power of a skyward glove still resonates. When the 1986 Mets finally won the World Series, reliever Jesse Orosco threw his glove into the air. The article is about what happened to the glove. (gift article)

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The Red Sox are playing the Dodgers. Two historic franchises. Now I know both teams have multiple uniforms (the Yankees are the only team left with one road/one home uniform) but the Dodgers tonight were wearing these off-white uniforms with a blue stripe down the side of the uniform pants. The numbers are odd. Why? Look like the Dodgers – it is one of the best uniforms in baseball – don't mess with that.

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The Yankees traded reliever Camilo Doval to Pittsburgh for two minor leaguers. Doval was a trade deadline pick-up last season. The Yankees thought they could harness his electric stuff the way they did with Luke Weaver. Instead, he was nibbling around the plate, giving up runs and just being terrible. He became the team's 10/10 pitcher – the guy you put into the game when you're up by 10 or down by 10.

They still need relief help – trading away Doval didn't help -

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Today's moment of happiness: Sound up.

They have a Little Free Library in their neighborhood and surprised this kid with a book he really wanted. His reaction is priceless. pic.twitter.com/JOb2NPDPb8
— Dudes Posting Their W’s (@DudespostingWs) July 31, 2026

Off to bed.

Take Care
Mara

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marakara @ 2025-01-07T23:40:00

2025-01-08T04:46:18Z

Dr. Jay Varma, New York City’s top doctor during the Pandemic who was attending sex parties while the City locked children out of parks in Brooklyn because they might actually play in the parks, has a Daily Beast article. Why I Shouldn’t Have Been Shamed for My Pandemic Sex Parties. He of course is blaming “a far-right honeytrap” for his problems.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/why-i-shouldnt-have-been-shamed-for-my-pandemic-sex-parties-by-dr-jay-varma/

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These poor, poor people:

#PalisadesFire from a flight arriving into LAX pic.twitter.com/NSOfSAymbk
— bluebear73 (@bluebear731) January 8, 2025

https://x.com/bluebear731/status/1876826718293418446

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Oh, this probably won’t make The View’s ‘Hot Topics’. Sunny Hostin’s husband, orthopedic surgeon Dr. Emmanuel ‘Manny’ Hostin, is one of almost 200 defendants named in an insurance fraud case in New York, one of the largest RICO cases ever filed in New York.

According to the suit, “Hostin knowingly provided fraudulent medical and other healthcare services including arthroscopic surgeries.” The “patients” were Uber and Lyft drivers who had American Transit as their insurance company. New York requires Uber/Lyft drivers to carry $200,000 worth of insurance. The insurance company was billed and “in exchange for kickbacks and/or other compensation which were disguised as dividends or other cash distributions.”

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Richard Cohen, longtime newsman and Meredith Vieira’s husband, passed away Christmas Eve. He was 76 and spent the last two-months battling pneumonia.. Cohen was a journalist turned bigtime, award winning producer at CBS News for years before moving to CNN. In more recent years, he wrote columns for the New York Times health section. Cohen was diagnosed with MS in 1973. He battled colon cancer twice – in 1998 and in 2000. He knew the health field inside and out.

Cohen leaves behind Viera, his wife of 38-years, and their three children Benjamin, Gabe and Lily. Gabe Cohen is a Washington correspondent for CNN.

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CBS has the AFC Championship Game in primetime this January. CBS will air the game and immediately after the game, will premiere Watson, the new Morris Chestnut series. After late local news, there will be a special Sunday edition of Late Show with Stephen Colbert. Colbert has aired on Sundays four times in the past – always after Super Bowl games.

The primetime NFL Conference Championship Game every year (they bounce back between CBS and FOX) are usually the second highest rated TV event most seasons.

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The 2011 series Grimm may return to Peacock for a movie reboot.

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MAX removed The West Wing January 1st with no other streamer carrying the program. After some complaints, the program will return on Thursday.

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Turner Classic Movies will salute Teri Garr Thursday nights with three back-to-back films – “Young Frankenstein”, “Oh God!” and “Black Stallion”.

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Today’s moment of happiness: Josh Olyphant.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UHbEexkvBc8

Off to bed.

Take Care
Mara

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No beach for me

2024-09-01T03:59:32Z

No beach today. It was dark and cloudy for most of the day. There were a few five or ten-minute breaks in the cloud but as soon as it got nice, it was dark again.

It was really humid again while not being hot. I wound up turning on the AC around 8PM because the apartment just felt weird.

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Today’s long reads:

LL Cool J Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop. (Why Would He?) - nobody was better to work with for promotions at the BMC was LL Cool J. Tireless.

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This is frightening. Ricky Pearsall, the San Francisco 49ers wide receiver/2024 first-round draft pick, was shot in the chest during a robbery in Union Square at 3:30PM. He was going to an autograph signing event.

According to the San Francisco police department, Pearsall fought with a thief who was trying to steal his Rolex watch. Things devolved to Pearsall and the thief struggling over a gun. Pearsall, 23, is in serious but stable condition. There is video of him walking to the ambulance holding his shirt on the bullet wound.

In August of 2022, Washington Commanders running back Brian Robinson Jr. was shot in DC by two teenagers trying to rob him.

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The Yankees lost today to the St. Louis Cardinals, the first time the Cardinals had a win in Yankee Stadium since the 1964 World Series. Now, from 1965 to 1996, there was no interleague baseball except in the World Series so if the Yankees didn’t play the Cardinals in the World Series (they did not in 1976, 1977, 1978, 1981 and 1996), there was no chance for a win or loss. But in 1997, interleague play began and while the Yankees and Cardinals didn’t meet up regularly, in the last near 30-years, the Cardinals played a few games at Yankee Stadium and the Cardinals were mostly good teams during those years.

Today, the Yankees put out a Triple A pitcher – everyone thinks Will Warren will be a good pitcher but he wasn’t supposed to be in the big leagues until next season. He’s learning on the job and so is Jazz Chisolm learning on the job playing third and not being positioned correctly for a possible pickoff move. The Yankees lost 6-5.

The Yankees playing the Cardinals is a historically big deal – the two teams have the most World Series wins – 27 from the Yankees, 11 for the Cardinals.

August in Aaron Judge:

𝗔𝗔𝗥𝗢𝗡 𝗝𝗨𝗗𝗚𝗘 𝗜𝗡 𝗔𝗨𝗚𝗨𝗦𝗧

.389 BA
12 HR
24 RBI
.530 OBP
.856 SLG
1.386 OPS pic.twitter.com/76ZGRTAkgh
— Bronx Pinstripes (@BronxPinstripes) August 31, 2024

I think that’s pretty good.

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Today’s moment of happiness: Beach buddy.

Having fun on the beach.. 😊 pic.twitter.com/Af6K3xR9ax
— Buitengebieden (@buitengebieden) August 29, 2024

Off to bed!

Take Care
Mara

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The Midnight Special

2024-08-20T03:48:58Z

Things are going so well: Vicious duo who pummeled elderly woman on NYC street freed without bail — despite arrest history: cops. The Bronx DA’s office asked for bail but the judges said no.

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Sorry to see about Phil Donahue. He was always one thing – interesting.

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📺 August 19, 1972: “The Midnight Special,“ a 90-minute late night musical variety series following the Friday edition of “The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson” on NBC, premiered as a special. It began its eight season run as a regularly scheduled… https://t.co/fldflKXdV9 pic.twitter.com/3s96G8pkZU
— Programming Insider (@PIUpdate) August 20, 2024

I’m so old. I remember staying up on Fridays to watch The Midnight Special. YouTube has a The Midnight Special channel with some amazing performances.

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FBI casting ( news )

Will Trent casting ( news )

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Disney Plus canceled The Acolyte after one season.

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ESPN is thinking of reviving The Sports Reporters as a YouTube series. The Sports Reporters ran on Sundays between 1988 to 2017, largely lead by either Dick Schaap until his untimely death in 2001 and John Saunders until his untimely death in 2016.

The Sports Reporters would have either Schaap or Saunders sitting with three or four sportswriters from different parts of the country with different expertise. Mitch Albom, Dave Anderson, Tony Kornheiser, Michael Wilbon, Mike Lupica John Feinstein, Bob Ryan, Ralph Wiley were regulars. ESPN thought Kornheiser and Wilbon could do Pardon the Interruption based on their Sports Reporters appearances (where they were not on together).

I don’t see how this works 30-years later. Every sportswriter who wants to be on TV, winds up on TV. ESPN has them all. What made The Sports Reporters different was looking at that clip, Anderson wrote for The New York Times, Kornheiser wrote for The Washington Post and Lupica for The New York Daily News. None of them were TV personalities outside of The Sports Reporters. Wilbon and Kornheiser stopped doing the show the minute they got their own. There’s nobody new to put on.

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Today’s moment of happiness: The Midnight Special

Off to bed!

Take Care
Mara

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FOX Announced 2019-20 Schedule

2019-05-13T13:41:12Z

FOX ANNOUNCES NEW PRIMETIME SCHEDULE FOR 2019-2020 SEASON( more-here )

Take Care
Mara

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Bug

2018-07-06T02:35:47Z

Because Albany is the most corrupt place in America, disgraced former Attorney General Eric Schneiderman will receive a $63,948 a year pension for the rest of his life with cost of living increases.

And again, most corrupt place in America, even if our do-nothing DA in Manhattan Cyrus Vance Jr. actually finds it in his heart to do his job and put together some sort of case against Schneiderman, that pension is guaranteed against any conviction for crimes committed while Attorney General. Since many of the state senators and assembly members wind in up jail, they'll protect that rule until the end.

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Former MSNBC host Ed Schultz died of natural causes today at age 64. He left behind a wife and six kids.

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Stomach went completely south tonight. Not sure why but the super-hot weather probably isn't helping. I'm going to bed.

Take Care
Mara

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