Month: May 2024

Most people don’t think much about fire departments until you need one. You know they exist and the purpose they serve but many people take their existence for granted. One fire department in Calhoun, Missouri was barely a department in 2021 when the new fire chief, Mark Hardin took over.

When you think of a department you think of multiple people, especially for something as important as a fire department. It takes a lot of training, muscle and skill to do the things firefighters do when they need to battle a blazing building, sometimes rescuing people inside. But the Calhoun fire department was a one man show.

It took Hardin and his passion for helping people to drum up more firefighters in the tiny town of 500. He took the town from just one firefighter to 28 and he trained them all. The biggest problem was that their equipment was from the 1980s and none of the firetrucks were in working order. Can’t put out a fire if you can’t get the trucks to run. That’s where 91-year-old Sam Sloan comes in.

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“I’m making a donation to the fire department. I’ve been planning to for several years,” Sloan tells KMBC 9. “It’s half a million dollars and a half a million dollars is a pretty good donation.”

Hardin and the rest of the fire department think it’s a fantastic donation for the rural department who are all volunteers struggling to keep the bank account above zero. The chief already has big plans for some of the money.

Watch the video:

“The first thing that we’re going to replace is our tanker pumper. Our tanker pumper has been patched together about 17 times in the last year I think I welded on that thing. Every one of our firefighters, from head to toe, we’re going to be fitted next Monday for new gear,” Hardin says.

Sloan doesn’t see the big deal in donating a half million dollars to the fire department because he knows “how to make a dollar,” he doesn’t know how to fix the equipment. Overall Sloan and Hardin think of the massive donation as simply helping their community and that’s all they care about.

Apple Music has been slowly rolling out its list of the 100 best albums over the past week, and it’s definitely reactions (which is, of course, the point). Not only are people debating the placements of the albums that have been revealed so far, but some conspicuous absences also have them predicting which albums are going to make it into the top 10, which has yet to be revealed.

Naturally, there’ve been plenty of classics, but more than a few controversial picks, with Travis Scott’s Astroworld and SZA’s SOS being called examples of recency bias on X (RIP, Twitter.com).

Among those artists whose albums haven’t been seen in the list so far are Kendrick Lamar, Nicki Minaj, Ariana Grande, Lauryn Hill, Mariah Carey, and even Michael Jackson. As one commenter put it on X, “we’ve reached the top 10 portion of this apple music 100 best albums list and they’ve yet to include a kendrick album or a michael jackson album. also no college dropout or miseducation of lauryn hill yet. they fill up the remaining spots right??”

Meanwhile, only one band has more than one entry and that’s Radiohead, with both “Kid A” and “OK Computer” making into the list.

You can check out the list for yourself here.

Of the two NBA Conference Finals series, the East is the one most anticipate to be a foregone conclusion. The Boston Celtics have been expected to cruise to the NBA Finals since before the playoffs began, but once teams like Milwaukee and Philadelphia were bounced, their odds only increased in the eyes of most.

The Indiana Pacers now stand as the last team remaining in the way of a Celtics Finals appearance, and few are picking them to pull off the upset. Indiana were impressive in beating the Bucks and Knicks to get here, but both teams were dealing with significant injury issues. As such, not everyone is willing to shake the feeling the Pacers lucked into this spot, with some like Draymond Green still believing they’re a regular season team.

There is one surefire way to turn folks into believers, and that is to push Boston in a way they haven’t been this postseason. The Celtics haven’t looked like an unbeatable juggernaut, dropping a game to each of the Heat and Cavs, but they do have a floor that is considerably higher than any other East team.

That is what makes Indiana’s margin for error almost non-existent in this series. To beat Boston, they’re going to have to find their A-game more than just four times, because inevitably there will be a game where their best runs up against the Celtics best, and Boston will likely win that battle. After an up-and-down series with the Knicks, the Pacers will have to find a more consistent level against Boston.

That starts with Tyrese Haliburton, who perhaps figured out his road woes in Game 7 in the Garden, and will have to carry that over for the Pacers to have a chance. He struggled with New York’s ball pressure early in the series, and will now have to deal with Jrue Holiday and Derrick White hounding him. He is going to have to remain aggressive and not allow Boston’s defensive guards to turn him into a non-scorer, because Boston’s team defense is too good for him to be pressured into passing to Andrew Nembhard and Aaron Nesmith and asking them to create, like he did late in Games 1 and 2 in New York.

Some of that will be incumbent on the Pacers getting creative to start sets with Haliburton off the ball and getting him the ball on the move so Holiday and White can’t get into his body as easily as when he brings the ball up the floor. Pascal Siakam, who has been very good for Indiana this postseason, will also have to raise his game to another level and share that creative burden. Beyond being the Pacers best wing shot creator, he also figures to draw Jayson Tatum as a defender at times and will be the Pacers best bet at making Tatum expend additional energy on the defensive end.

The rest of the Pacers will have to make shots, maybe not at the 67 percent clip they did in Game 7, but they’re going to have to win the three-point battle to have any chance to win this series. Myles Turner and Nembhard have given big lifts as shooters this postseason and that will need to continue, while Nesmith will need to find his shooting stroke as he’s struggled thus far.

On defense, the Pacers are going to face a very different challenge to their first two series, where they were tasked with dealing with point guard dynamos in Damian Lillard and Jalen Brunson. This series, they’ll face more pressure from the wing, as Tatum and Jaylen Brown lead the Celtics offense, with Holiday and White offering more of a support role from the backcourt. I’d expect Tatum and Brown to look to use guards as screeners in an effort to attack Indiana’s guards (particularly Haliburton). How the Pacers approach that challenge and how often they concede switches might be determinative in how this series goes for them defensively. Indiana is going to have to put full effort into the defensive end to avoid giving up those favorable matchups, but also has to be cognizant of who they’re leaving to send help.

I’d expect them to ask Al Horford and Jrue Holiday to prove they can consistently make shots, while trying to stay attached to Tatum, Brown, and White (who has been sensational this postseason). If they can turn this into a shooting variance series by the “others,” it gives them a chance. If Tatum and Brown can feel comfortable and get the looks they want, it’s a wrap, so you have to roll the dice on Holiday and Horford being shooters. That can also end in disaster, but there aren’t a lot of “good” options against this Boston offense.

The first two games in Boston are going to be particularly important for the Pacers, as the Celtics are expected to be without Kristaps Porzingis for both games. They are far more vulnerable on both ends without their star big man, and Indiana has to get at least one game in Boston to open this series — if not both. That’s an extremely difficult task, but then again, so is this series as a whole. On the other side, Boston will need to make an early statement in this series, as the Pacers are as confident as they’ve ever been coming off their Game 7 performance in New York. If they can pick off Game 1 in Boston, that belief will only grow in the Indiana locker room.

The Celtics are -900 favorites for a reason in this series, but the Pacers have the offensive firepower to make this interesting. The margin for error will be nearly nothing for Indiana, but the pathway is there to shock the basketball world.

Jack Antonoff and Bleachers kicked off their From The Studio To The Stage tour with a quick run of UK performances in March. Now, they’ve launched the North American leg, with two shows under their belt so far. If you’re planning on checking out an upcoming concert and you’re the kind of fan who likes to have an idea of what the setlist looks like ahead of time, we got you covered.

Per setlist.fm, the band played a pretty even mix of songs at their latest show, on May 20 at Red Rocks in Colorado. The set featured tracks mostly from the albums Bleachers (6 songs), Take the Sadness Out of Saturday Night (5), Gone Now, and Strange Desire (4 each). This was

Check out the Red Rocks setlist below.

Bleachers’ From The Studio To The Stage Tour Setlist

1. “I Am Right On Time”
2. “Modern Girl”
3. “Jesus Is Dead”
4. “How Dare You Want More”
5. “Wake Me”
6. “Everybody Lost Somebody”
7. “Goodmorning” (acoustic)
8. “Dream Of Mickey Mantle / Me Before You”
9. “Chinatown”
10. “Don’t Go Dark”
11. “Self Respect”
12. “Wild Heart”
13. “Rollercoaster”
14. “Let’s Get Married”
15. “Margaret” (Lana Del Rey cover) (snippet, audience request)
16. “45” (acoustic)
17. “Ordinary Heaven”
18. “Tiny Moves”
19. “Stop Making This Hurt”
20. “I Wanna Get Better”
21. “Don’t Take The Money”

Country music is having a moment, and unsurprisingly, there are some new faces at the forefront of its breakthrough, — faces like Beyoncé’s, Shaboozey’s, and Tanner Adell’s. However, there’s one pioneer in the genre who doesn’t quite feel like he got the same love as they’re receiving now.

In a May 19 interview with BBC, Lil Nas X said that he was “happy” for the country music successes of artists like Beyoncé and Shaboozey, but that he feels a little left out. “I wish this would have happened for me,” he said. “I wasn’t even able to experience this.”

Nas appears to be referring to the reception of his breakout hit “Old Town Road,” which despite breaking records on the Billboard Hot 100 as the longest-running No. 1 ever, was never truly embraced by the country music establishment. The song was actually pulled from the country music chart initially for not sounding “country” enough, and received a chilly reception from country radio programmers. It did go on to win a CMA Award, but not without controversy.

And while Beyoncé may have had a rough road onto those country trails, it took far less fussing and fighting for her single “Texas Hold ‘Em” to enter country airplay after her label reviewed its metadata, and her album Cowboy Carter was widely well-received, landing at No. 1 in its first week despite the big change in sound for Beyoncé.

If you often find yourself switching from Netflix to Peacock, back to Netflix, then over to Apple TV+, the one more quick glance at Peacock just to find something to watch, you might begin to wonder: am I acting financially irresponsible with this behavior? Comcast wants to solve that problem!

Beginning next week, the cable company will offer StreamSaver, a new bundling service that will combine various steaming sites into one convenient package. The bundle includes Peacock Premium (with ads), Netflix Basic (with ads) and Apple TV+ as an add-on for Comcast TV or broadband. The bundle costs $15 a month, which is a 35% discount if the services were purchased separately.

Comcast also offers Now TV, a streaming-only service, which now has Netflx, AppleTV+ and Peacock in addition to 40 (!!) free ad-supported TV channels for $30 per month.

CEO and president of Comcast Dave Watson declared, “These are three premium streaming services that are combined in one compelling package. It’s a home run for consumers… We’re thrilled to have Netflix and Apple as partners.”

The announcement comes ahead of the impending price increase from Peacock, while Hulu, Max and Disney have been brewing up their own streaming concoction. It’s almost as if having everything in one place is a good idea… almost!

(Via Variety)

We know too much screen time is not good for us. We also know that younger folks are particularly susceptible to screen addiction. What we don’t fully know is how to effectively help teens and tweens manage the habit, especially when screens are such an everyday part of life.

However, psychiatrist, author and dad of seven Richard Wadsworth recently went viral after showing his own personal strategy for getting his kids to do something other than scrolling. It could be the perfect solution for parents to not only break screen addiction, but instill some other healthy ritual as well.

In the clip, we first see Wadsworth’s tween son doing deltoid exercises with dumbbells. Which he apparently got up at 6:30 am to do.

What could possibly incentivize practically anyone, let alone a preteen to wake up at the crack of dawn to lift weights? Read on.

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Wadsworth then showed a typed out list of various tasks that must be performed before even setting eyes on a phone or tablet. The list included a short workout in the form of one mile on the treadmill or 20 minutes of another exercise.

Wadsworth explained that rather than enforcing strict rules, this method provides necessary structure without taking away choice.

“I’m not forcing my son to exercise every day, but I am setting rules and boundaries around his screen time,” he said. “He decided he wanted to have more time after school to play with his friend. And so in order to do that, he realized that he’d need to wake up a little bit earlier and exercise in the morning.”

In addition to exercise, the list included domestic chores like cleaning the bedroom and shared areas, finishing homework, doing laundry, preparing for the next day…and, perhaps most importantly…making sure the toilet is flushed.

“We have all of their screens locked away. And if they want access to any of them, they need to come ask us and we’ll go through the list together. And they’re not getting their screens until the list is done,” Wadsworth continued.

He also drew a comparison between screen time and sugary sweets, noting how most parents probably wouldn’t routinely allow kids to eat dessert before a nutritious meal, but instead allow it to be a treat.

“Just as you would hopefully have your kids eat dinner before they had their dessert, you should probably be having them do something positive…before they get on their screens.” Hence why he tries to get his kids to complete their list before going to the phone.

And in case you’re wondering how Wadsworth’s son feels about all this, he reported having “so much energy for school” feeling “so much better” since his dad introduced the to-do list.

@doctorwadsworth #greenscreen #parenting #parentingtips ♬ original sound – Richard Wadsworth

Bottom line: kids need guidance from their parents. And Wadsworth recommends clear cut boundaries to help them develop good habits, “because if you don’t do it, nobody else is.”

Wadsworth’s parenting hack was well received, with quite a few grown adults saying they could benefit from this type of boundary-setting in their own life.

“Even I’m addicted to this screen. I have to tell myself to put it down all the time and I’m a grown adult. Kids definitely need this!” one user wrote.

Another added, “I need someone to do this for me (I’m 28).” To which Wadsworth replied, “we all need parents sometimes.”

Even with potential TikTok bans, social media isn’t going anywhere. The sooner parents can implement guidelines like these, the better equipped their kids will be at balancing tech savviness with tech dependence.

This article originally appeared on 3.19.24

The 2024 Grammys were only three months ago, but already, the Recording Academy is looking forward to the year ahead. The Academy posted a list of important dates for the 2025 Grammys, including the cutoff date for consideration (August 30), when the nominations will be announced (November 8), and when the voting for those nominations will conclude (January 3, 2025). The only question that leaves is: when will the 67th Annual Grammy Awards be held?

Fortunately, that date was part of the larger announcement. The 2025 Grammy Awards are scheduled for February 2, 2025, and will be broadcast live from Los Angeles’ Crypto.com Arena via CBS (or Paramount Plus).

The past year’s awards included some surprises, with Uproxx’s Derrick Rossignol listing the biggest winners and losers including Taylor Swift and boygenius winning several awards, Swift announcing her album The Tortured Poets Department, and Miley Cyrus’ performance among the winners. The eventful ceremony also saw Killer Mike led out in handcuffs after sweeping every category for which he was nominated earlier in the evening.

Next year’s awards already have stiff competition just for nominations, with the aforementioned Tortured Poets and Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter dropping earlier this year. The latter is also sure to be the center point of some categorical controversy come November, and that’s without even knowing what else is dropping before the cutoff.

Ayo Edebiri has been hard at work saving Hollywood with both her comedic chops and lamb chops, but she never forgets where she came from: Ireland.

Edebiri was, of course, born and raised in Boston, Massachusetts, home to Ben Affleck and Dunkin’ Donuts, but that didn’t stop her from claiming to be from the land of Cillian Murphy.

The Bear star appears on Vanity Fair‘s June cover where she explained that her Irish origin story was the result of her “silly little brain” being deliriously tired at SXSW last year while promoting Bottoms. Who doesn’t get a little goofy when they are tired? We’ve all seen this before.

From Vanity Fair:

While deliriously tired at the South by Southwest premiere for Bottoms, Edebiri told reporters that she was from Ireland. She’s not; she was born to a Barbadian mother and Nigerian father in Boston. But the internet ran with it, and Edebiri fully committed to the bit, with shout-outs to Ireland on numerous occasions. (And she remains committed. She told me that she has Irish relatives on both sides of her family, and who knows, maybe it’s true.) She attributes all of this to her “silly little brain.” Days after our interview, I find a selfie of Edebiri making a ridiculous face on my phone. I have no memory of her snapping it.

Though Edebiri is not from Colin Farrell’s homeland, she has been committing to the bit since it first made headlines last year, after Edebiri claimed to be Jenny the Donkey from The Banshees of Inisherin. Since then, she’s been popping up alongside Paul Mescal and has caught the attention of Barry Keoghan. We just need Saoirse Ronan to comment next, and then Edebiri can really claim Irish citizenship.

The best way to follow through with the long-running Ireland joke would be for Edebiri to star alongside Keoghan and Mescal in a Challengers situation. But instead of tennis, it would probably be some sort of pub crawl.

The Bear returns on June 27th.

(Via Vanity Fair)