Month: January 2024

Kayla Berridge had been walking her normal 9-mile delivery route in Newmarket, a small town in New Hampshire, when she noticed something unusual.

The mail she had been delivering continued to pile up over a matter of days at one resident’s home. The resident was an elderly woman in her 80s, and would occasionally share a chat with Berridge, according to CNN.

Berridge told CNN that after noticing the unattended mail pile, she got “a little concerned.”

“I just had this gut feeling and wanted to make sure,” Berridge told WMUR 9 News, explaining that “most people put a hold in if they’re not there, so when people pick up their mail every day, you start to notice their habits.” Not to mention, the woman’s car was still in the driveway.

Berridge followed her instincts and called the local police department for a wellness check, and in the process saved the elderly woman’s life.

CNN reported that officers found the woman trapped on her bedroom floor under heavy artwork and frames. The theory is she tried to use her bed for support, and in the process these items on the bed fell onto her, pinning her down for three full days. Though she was suffering from hypothermia and dehydration, Police Lt. Wayne Stevens confirmed she was stable and recovering.

I can only imagine the agony and fear this poor woman was in, lying in the cold and not knowing if help would come. Luckily, help was on the way, and this story has a happy ending.

In this instance, the familiarity that comes from living in a small town really paid off. “Everyone has each other’s backs,” Berridge told CNN.

But Officer Stevens wanted to give credit where credit was due. He agreed that Berridge’s quick thinking was “part of being a letter carrier in a small town,” he added that her actions were “taking your job to the next level.”

While wellness or welfare checks have historically been associated with the elderly, they are seen as an equally “critical tool” for the safety of many young people as well, especially with the “rise of suicide rates among adolescents and young adults.”

An example of this is when “Saturday Night Live” star Pete Davidson received a wellness check back in 2018. The comedian posted an alarming message to Instagram, saying “I really don’t want to be on this Earth anymore. I actually don’t know how much longer I can last.” This was after breaking off his engagement with Ariana Grande.

Though it certainly didn’t happen in a small town, the interconnectedness of social media helped raise some red flags and prompted authorities to make a visit.

If there’s anything to make you question someone’s well-being, it’s better to be safe than sorry.

This article originally appeared on 02.02.22

The fear of needles—technically known as trypanophobia—is an extremely common fear that can range from “Eh, I’m not so comfy with the idea a needle going into my body” to full-on fainting at the sight of a syringe. For some, the idea of having blood drawn adds another layer to the fear of needles (“Wait, you mean you’re taking some of the life-sustaining blood OUT of my body?”) and can the fear can be so strong that it leads to people avoiding lab work altogether.

Perhaps that’s one reason a video of vets and/or vet techs dancing for a dog who was nervous while getting a blood draw is resonating with so many people.

The video, shared by Hawaii Kai Vet Clinic on Instagram, is delightful on its face—the music, the dancing, the commitment, the random woman in the background, the good doggo, all of it. But it’s the desire to have that kind of distraction as a human in a phlebotomist’s chair that really got people.

I mean, who wouldn’t enjoy a blood draw with this kind of entertainment?

See on Instagram

“Distraction team ready!” they wrote. “Treats, head pats and even dancing can help keep the nervous fur babies from focusing on the treatments being done, we love doing our best to keep things fear free as much as we can.”

“Do you have to own a pet to see this performance live and where can I purchase tickets?” wrote one commenter.

“I’m hoping these kind people are available for my next Dr appointment,” wrote another.

“Can you guys come with me to MY doctor’s appointment next week?” added another.

Here’s to the vets and vet techs who go the extra mile to make their patients as comfortable as possible. Check out Hawaii Kai Vet Clinic on Instagram for more veterinary joy.

This article originally appeared on 10.14.23

Costco is known for many things—their employee satisfaction and retention, their amazing Kirkland Signature generic brand, their massive (and addictive) $4.99 rotisserie chickens, their never-going-to-raise-the-price $1.50 hot dog and soda meal and more.

But one favorite Costco feature that might just top them all? The Costco cake.

Costco cakes are legendary. If you’ve never had a Costco cake, I’m so sorry. If you have, then you know. They are the trifecta of awesome—huge, cheap and utterly delicious. I don’t even like cake that much and I can’t stop eating a Costco cake. Like, if you ordered a fancy cake from a fancy patisserie and it tasted like a Costco cake, you’d say, “Oh yeah, that was worth the $ I just paid.” Only at Costco, you’d get that delicious of a cake that would feed a thousand people for just $25. (Okay, 50 people, but still—cake for days.)

This is why people have a serious loyalty to Costco cakes, which writer Lucy Huber discovered when she dared to question the Costco cake ordering process on Twitter.

Huber took to the social media platform to share her anxiety over the antiquated way you have to order a Costco cake. You can’t call it in. You can’t order it online. You have to physically go to the Costco bakery, fill out a paper form at an unmanned cake ordering kiosk, drop your form in the drop box without speaking to a single human being, and then trust that your cake will be there when you return at your requested time.

It was the last part Huber poked fun of when she wrote, “Ordered a cake from Costco and their system is from the 1800s, you write what you want on a piece of paper & put it in a box then nobody follows up and you just show up and hope they made it? I tried to call to confirm & they were like ‘if you put it in the box, it will be there.’”

u201cOrdered a cake from Costco and their system is from the 1800s, you write what you want on a piece of paper & put it in a box then nobody follows up and you just show up and hope they made it? I tried to call to confirm & they were like u201cif you put it in the box, it will be thereu201du201d

— Lucy Huber (@Lucy Huber)
1683827354

“Oh also,” she added, “when I called I had to call the main office bc there was no number listed for the bakery and they told me ‘the bakery has no phone’. Truly living in 1802 right now.”

Everything she wrote is true. But as she quickly learned, one does not question the Costco cake ordering system, as the Costco cake brigade demonstrated with a deluge of “Trust the system!” and “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!” sentiments.

Multiple people said they’d ordered more than 50 cakes from Costco with their dropbox system and had never had a problem. And any slight anxiety that might cause is worth it for cakes that are that cheap and that delicious. (As one person wrote after their first Costco cake experience, “100/10.”)

u201c@jonathangraf @clhubes Hahahaha Iu2019ve ordered many cakes from Costco this way and have only had one problem: one time I tripped walking out of the store and it fell upside downud83dude01. Manager came out and gave me one to replace it. It wasnu2019t decorated but it was a cake. Thanks Costco!!!u201d

— Lucy Huber (@Lucy Huber)
1683827354

People who love Costco really love Costco.

They won us over with the 5 dollar chicken, cheaper gas and 1.50 hotdog plus drink. If the ceo of Costco was a murderer I’d need to see court documents from the trial before saying anything negative, let alone dissing the 1802 box

— John (@John64647689) May 11, 2023

Only the Costco fanbase is built on a solid foundation of awesome business practices, fabulous food and great deals.

u201c@SlackfulCyclops @clhubes They do make dough and love working there. 20 workers at my local Costco won a $200 million lotto jackpot, and half of them stayed on after they were paid out. Like the door greeter has several mill in the bank and still as cheerful as ever.u201d

— Lucy Huber (@Lucy Huber)
1683827354

Even some Costco bakery employees chimed in with some humor and support.

as a costco bakery employee we have to burn your paper with the sacred flame and hope that He brings the cake

— tyler (@tylergotchi1) May 11, 2023

For the uninitiated, someone shared a photo of the magic cake kiosk where you make your choices, hope for the best and are never disappointed.

u201c@clhubes This is so funny. For those who havenu2019t done it before, heres a pic of the flawless order form.u201d

— Lucy Huber (@Lucy Huber)
1683827354

Huber got a kick out of the response, sharing that she’s never had a tweet go viral that fast and she was no longer worried about the box system.

u201cThis is the fastest one of my tweets has gone viral. The people LOVE Costco ud83dude02 Excited to get my cake and no longer nervous!!!! I believe the box system works!u201d

— Lucy Huber (@Lucy Huber)
1683827354

As of this writing, she has not shared whether she received her cake as ordered or whether it was as scrumptious as the Costco cake lovers promised.

This article originally appeared on 5.12.23

Today is the third anniversary of the time a former president whipped up a violent crowd of supporters to attempt a failed coup. So much has changed. Or has it? That same president is somehow currently the frontrunner for the GOP presidential ticket, despite his very broken brain. Some of the MAGA lawmakers who helped him even remain in power. One of them is Josh Hawley, whose antics that day (including fleeing from the mob he helped incite like a Looney Tunes character) earned him scorn from his home state at the time. Three years later people are still furious with him.

As caught by Newsweek, in a piece entitled “Jan. 6 Showed That, Yes, It Could Happen Here. The Voters Must Not Let It,” The St. Louis Post-Dispatch made sure to single Hawley out for his part in the Jan. 6 riot, and for continuing to disseminate Trump’s election fraud bull.

Trump’s gaseous lies might have merely dissipated into the atmosphere had it not been for Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri, who was the first senator to object to ballot results,” wrote the editorial board. “That damnable, self-serving stunt is what made it necessary for Congress that day to debate the undebatable legitimacy of Joe Biden’s victory — thus providing a time-and-place target for the MAGA madness of Jan. 6.”

The editorial also made sure to lump Hawley in with other MAGA cronies:

“Trump’s culpability is clear, but he isn’t alone. Scores of Republicans in both houses of Congress — most of whom are still there — joined Hawley in his attempt to disenfranchise millions of Americans by blocking certification valid election results. Later, most House Republicans refused to join the successful impeachment vote against Trump, then the Republican-controlled Senate refused to convict.”

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch isn’t the only Missouri paper that’s stuck it to Hawley. Last summer, The Kansas City Star torched the senator after he shared a fake Patrick Henry quote.

(Via The St. Louis Post-Dispatch and Newsweek)

The staff at the famed competition show So You Think You Can Dance has been shrunk by one. According to Rolling Stone, as of Friday, January 5, Nigel Lythgoe will no longer be affiliated with the series following Paula Abdul’s sexual assault lawsuit.

In a statement exclusively shared with the outlet, the former producer detailed his decision to walk away. “I have informed the producers of ‘So You Think You Can Dance’ of my decision to step back from participating in this year’s series,” wrote Lythgoe. “I did so with a heavy heart but entirely voluntarily because this great program has always been about dance and dancers, and that’s where its focus needs to remain. In the meantime, I am dedicating myself to clearing my name and restoring my reputation.”

Fox and the show’s producers, 19 Entertainment and Dick Clark Productions, also issued a comment on the matter: “The upcoming season of So You Think You Can Dance will proceed, although without Nigel Lythgoe, to ensure the show remains committed to the contestants, who have worked incredibly hard for the opportunity to compete on our stage.”

After news of Abdul’s filing went public, Lythogoe immediately denied the allegations. “To say that I am shocked and saddened by the allegations made against me by Paula Abdul is a wild understatement,” he wrote at the time. “For more than two decades, Paula and I have interacted as dear — and entirely platonic — friends and colleagues. Yesterday, however, out of the blue, I learned of these claims in the press, and I want to be clear: not only are they false, they are deeply offensive to me and to everything I stand for.”

Before his time at So You Think You Can Dance, Lythogoe previously served as a producer on American Idol.

Remember when Aaron Rodgers guest-hosted Jeopardy!? A lot of people thought he was surprisingly pretty good at that. He was calm, collected, quietly smart. A lot has happened since then to disabuse people of that notion. He’s since outed himself as a vax skeptic who can’t be trusted to not start chaos. His latest antic? Bizarrely and baselessly suggesting late night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel might be a former Jeffrey Epstein client. That turned into an all-out, inter-Disney employee war, which is far from over.

To recap: Last week, Rodgers went on The Pat McAfee Show, soon before the release of documents pertaining to Epstein’s case. The news prompted the footballer to say, perhaps in jest, perhaps not, “There’s a lot of people, including Jimmy Kimmel, who are hoping that list doesn’t come out.” Kimmel, as one can imagine, did not appreciate that and threatened legal action. Both McAfee and ESPN — owned, like The Jimmy Kimmel Show!, by Disney — apologized. Rodgers has kept stum. So has Kimmel, but that may change.

“This will go as far as Kimmel wants to take it,” a source close to McAfee’s show told Front Office Sports. “[Kimmel] is the non-cartoon face of Disney. … Jimmy Kimmel Live! is five days a week, 52 weeks a year. He prints money for Disney. … He’s also a very sensitive guy.”

Worried as McAfee and ESPN are of Kimmel launching an inter-Disney employee war, that won’t stop them from bringing Rodgers back on the show.

“Pat announced today that he’s planning on Aaron joining the show Tuesday. Aaron made a dumb and factually inaccurate joke about Jimmy Kimmel,” said Mike Foxx, ESPN senior vice president of digital and studio production. “The show will continue to evolve. It wouldn’t surprise me if Aaron’s role evolves with it.”

Seems like a smart idea to keep bringing on a loose cannon who could create massive legal trouble for everyone. Maybe he’ll accuse another totally random celebrity of another unspeakably awful thing.

(Via Front News Sports)

As you are no doubt aware by now, Yellowstone drama continues as Taylor Sheridan‘s flagship series moves towards the finish line. The creator and prolific writer has seen some upheaval with star Kevin Costner, who will not return for the final episodes that will film sometime in fall 2024. Additionally, Sheridan has sued another cast member for trademark infringement, and Sheridan might be on the outs with Matthew McConaughey, who is reportedly considering leaving his spinoff (which appears to be 2024) due to a possible clash of egos and scheduling difficulties.

What’s a Paramount+ addict to do in a situation like this? Fortunately, there are always more Sheridan series in the works. Not only is 6666 one to look forward to, but 1923 will bring us another season starring Harrison Ford and Helen Mirren. Likewise, Jeremy Renner is back to work with a third season of Mayor of Kingstown, and then there’s Land Man, which happens to feature a reunion between the creator and 1883 star Billy Bob Thornton.

Let’s dig in, y’all.

Plot

Many of the recent development for this series will be found in the casting, but first, it’s Billy Bob time. Expect his Tommy Norris to be a very different character than 1883‘s U.S. Marshal Jim Courtright because Land Man not only takes place in contemporary times but also revolves around an oil company crisis manager, whose story has also been depicted in the hit podcast of the same name. From the series description:

“[Land Man] is set in the proverbial boomtowns of West Texas and is a modern day tale of fortune seeking in the world of oil rigs. The series is an upstairs/downstairs story of roughnecks and wildcat billionaires fueling a boom so big, it’s reshaping our climate, our economy and our geopolitics.”

Sheridan’s prolific writing tendencies will take him much deeper into Thornton’s character than the podcast did. The show has also suggested that action will take place in Dallas (from the looks of the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge appearing prominently in a promo clip).

Billy Bob will deal largely in the business of Texas Tea, but this ain’t The Beverly Hillbillies. Rather, Thornton will move between negotiating with the higher and lower players of the oil business.

Much of the action will also revolve around the Norris family (the Duttons of Texas Tea?), and Thornton has also declared that he is very much looking forward to showing viewers “the world of the oil business that we generally don’t see.” It’s wild to think that there are plenty of stories to be found in an industry that we largely take for granted while muttering about gas prices, but rest assured that Sheridan’s pen has found its inspiration.

Cast

The Norris family will include Ainsley Norris (portrayed by Michelle Randolph, who previously appeared in 1923), who is “the wild and strong-willed seventeen-year-old daughter of Tommy Norris (Thornton).” Tommy’s son, Cooper, will be entering the “demanding work in the oil and gas fields of west Texas” and will be be portrayed by Jacob Lofland. And since Tommy needs an ex-wife (he was probably a not-so-great husband), that role will be filled by Ali Larter as Angela Norris.

Additionally, the series recently saw a Facebook call for extras (mainly civilians who have oil and gas experience) from Legacy Casting:

Hey all! We’re looking for REAL PEOPLE who have experience as Oil and Gas Workers in the FIELD and would want to possibly be on camera for a MAJOR TV SHOW for Paramount+. This is a Taylor Sheridan show that will start filming in 2024 in North Texas (as well as other parts of TX too.)

Release Date

If only we could rig an oil all to conjure up an exact release date. Production has begun in earnest, however, with casting coming together and filming to happen in 2024. You can probably bet that we will see Land Man surface on Paramount+ before the final half-season of Yellowstone comes to light.

Trailer

Taylor Sheridan’s productions are like a well-oiled machine when drama is absent, but not even he’s good enough to pull a trailer out of thin air before filming commences. However, Sheridan has discussed Land Man on video, and from the looks of this footage, the series will head not only into the land of oil rigs but pointedly illuminate (“a forgotten part of the American experience”), as most Taylor Sheridan show’s make a point of doing.

Fingers crossed for a Land Man release date soon.

LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers are in the middle of a rough patch right now. The team lost to the Memphis Grizzlies on Friday night, 127-113, to fall to 17-19 on the year following their fourth loss in a row. Since beating the Indiana Pacers in the final of the In-Season Tournament, the team is 3-10, and head coach Darvin Ham keeps tinkering with the team’s starting lineup in an effort to find a unit that can get the job done.

All that is to say that James wasn’t in a particularly good mood on Friday night, and unfortunately for one reporter, that meant being on the other end of a tongue lashing from the future Hall of Fame inductee. James was asked about the recent decision by longtime veteran Ricky Rubio to retire from the NBA and his career in the league, which … didn’t go over well.

“I’m not really in the mood to answer that question, but I respect Ricky,” James said. “Congratulations on a hell of a career, and if I don’t seem sincere when you see this video, it’s because we got our ass whooped again, and I apologize. So, it was actually bad timing on the interviewer asking me this question. It’s not me, Ricky. So, congratulations.”

James and Rubio were never teammates, but crossed paths as competitors plenty of times in their careers in both the NBA and as members of their national teams — the two famously were part of the United States and Spain squads that went head-to-head in the gold medal game at the 2008 Olympics. Regardless, James is the most authoritative voice in the league on basically everything, so he’s no stranger to getting asked questions about stuff that goes well beyond himself or the Lakers. This reporter just happened to ask this question on the wrong night.

Magnets, how do they work? That’s what Insane Clown Posse asked some 14 years back, justly prompting widespread derision. And that’s also what the current frontrunner for the Republican presidential ticket effectively said on Friday night.

Per Mediaite, the world’s most famous failed blogger held one of his rallies, where he told the crowd very presidential things like people just need to “get over” the umpteenth school shooting, this one in Iowa. That remark should disqualify him from being the nation’s leader, but so should saying this about magnets:

Think of it, magnets. Now all I know about magnets is this, give me a glass of water, let me drop it on the magnets, that’s the end of the magnets.

It’s not, though, is it? Water doesn’t destroy the power of magnets, as any quizzical child could likely tell you. But Trump’s not a quizzical child. He’s a pushing-80 former reality TV star with 91 criminal charges against him who’s taken over a political party whose presidential candidates haven’t won a popular election in 20 years. Not knowing how magnets work is fine for a make-up-loving hip-hop duo who coax their fans to spray each other with Faygo. The same shouldn’t be said for someone who wants the nuclear codes, again.

If you’d like to parse the full rant that built up to this whopper, do your best not to fall asleep reading along:

I could tell you about aircraft carriers, where they use electric catapults. They couldn’t go to the steam, which works better for about 1/100th the price, you know? The electric catapult, you know that story? I could tell you about the elevators on a tremendous carrier, the Gerald Ford, and they decided not to use hydraulic like the John Deere tractor, they decided to use magnets, “we’re gonna use magnets!” to lift up the elevators with seven planes. We need them fast, these massive elevators. They used magnets, they wanted to try it for the first time. This was a ship that was supposed to cost 2.5 billion, it cost 19 billion and didn’t work, and still doesn’t work right.

He went on:

They had a $900 million cost over on these stupid electric catapults that didn’t work. They had almost a billion dollar cost over on the magnetic elevators. Think of it, magnets. Now all I know about magnets is this, give me a glass of water, let me drop it on the magnets, that’s the end of the magnets. Why didn’t they use John Deere? Why didn’t they bring in the John Deere people? Do you like John Deere? I like John Deere.

Hey, who doesn’t like John Deere? But yes, it’s Joe Biden’s mental acuity we need to worry about, not the “World War II” guy.

(Via Mediaite)

Few TV junkies would dispute that HBO’s first season of True Detective is one of the top seasons of all time. Woody Harrelson and Matthew McConaughey brought their ongoing dynamic back together in a new way while leaning into one of the more eerie and carefully parceled out mysteries to ever grace television. We shall not discuss the second season, and the third one was an alright effort, although it was simply passable and not memorable. Fortunately, the fourth season — subtitled as Night Country — is here to restore order to the realm created by Nic Pizzolatto.

Interestingly enough, Pizzolatto is listed as an executive producer on this season, yet he appears to have largely stepped away from creative duties here. He’s not the showrunner, nor is he doing writing duties. Instead, Issa López steps up as showrunner, director, and writer/co-writer of the entire season. Six episodes will tell a supernatural-tinged story that critics have declared to be a return to greatness. Let’s get cracking.

Plot

If 30 Days Of Night came to mind regarding this season, the setting is doing its job. This season filmed in Iceland, which stands in for the fictional settlement of Ennis, Alaska, which is much like Barrow (which IRL is now referred to as “Utqiagvik”), i.e. the northernmost point in the United States. As portrayed in the show (although not quite like reality, in which the twilight-like Polar Night prevails), Ennis is plunged into utter darkness for a chunk of the year. That and the refusal of the terrain to thaw adds up to a recipe for violence and/or the supernatural, which might or might not be working together.

Speaking of partners, it’s ladies’ night in Ennis. The two central investigators of this story are Liz Danvers (Jodie Foster) and Evangeline Navarro (Kali Reis). They have a history and are drawn back together by an (extremely) cold case of a group of research scientists who were found frozen solid with their murders never solved. The detectives realize that the victims actually died before the cold got them. And this season, more than any other than the debut installment, leans into suggestions of the preternatural, but there’s no timer the ladies to worry about spookiness while fully leaning into the case.

From the HBO longline on this winter noir-land:

When the long winter night falls in Ennis, Alaska, the eight men who operate the Tsalal Arctic Research Station vanish without a trace. To solve the case, Detectives Liz Danvers (Foster) and Evangeline Navarro (Reis) will have to confront the darkness they carry in themselves, and dig into the haunted truths that lie buried under the eternal ice.

Cast

Harrelson and McConaughey are onboard as executive producers, although they have most certainly retired their first-season characters, Martin Hart and Rust Cohle, respectively. Foster and Reis are the lead detectives that do not appear to be thrilled about being partnered up again. Co-stars this season include Fiona Shaw (Killing Eve) as a survivalist against the harsh polar terrain, and Christopher Eccleston (Doctor Who) as the community’s police chief. Additionally, Finn Bennett (The Nevers) will portray Danvers’ apprentice.

There’s more good news: John Freaking Hawkes (Deadwood, Martha Marcy May Marlene) will be here to possibly unsettle everyone (as a cranky detective) more than the darkness itself.

Release Date

The fourth season will debut on HBO (and stream on Max) on Sunday, January 14, 2024.

Trailer

HBO’s preview of this season looks chilly in multiple ways.