I wondered how some random lady, the “Door Dash Grandma,” was able to walk right up to the White House to deliver Donald’s comfort food.
The answer is, she isn’t some random lady. Once again, Republicans play the game of accusing everybody else of what they’re doing. That wasn’t the first time she’s been planted for a photo op.
Watching more classic Doctor Who, I wondered who this young beauty is. She’s another reminder of the passage of time. Hilary Ryan is a month older than I am.
On a whim, I looked behind the new dryer and, to my dismay, saw there’s no strain relief clamp* on the power cord. Argh. If the guy who installed the dryer didn’t have the part on hand, he could have used the clamp from the old dryer. It’s a standard UL-listed part.
Recalling that I have a clamp somewhere, I decided to do the job myself. I pulled the dryer out from the wall, unplugged it, and removed the wiring access panel.
But, of course, the clamp wasn’t in the toolbox. (Had I already used it for something?) After too many minutes spent in fruitless searching, and not wanting to hunt down a clamp, I contacted Best Buy and arranged for a service call. At least that way they’d know one of the guys at the sub-contractor they hired is doing sub-optimal work. (The team that Best Buy sent to install the dishwasher two years ago was excellent.)
That keeps me stuck here, looking at today’s newspaper, while waiting for a call with an expected arrival time for the service technician. It should take him all of two minutes to secure the power cord.
Most days, I get a suburban Boston newspaper. Yes, an actual paper-paper. I feel my connection to the National Cartoonists Society demands it. The paper has the Jumble puzzle.
Some days, like today, I instead get a copy of The Boston Globe. It has a Jumble variation that’s a lot easier to do, but it’s better than having no Jumble. (I sound very retired, don’t I.)
Which takes me to this video with Globe reporter Emily Sweeney, who articulates a genuine Boston accent, with its “hahd ahh” sound.
@bostonglobe Authorities are still searching for a masked intruder who broke into a Beverly mansion early Saturday morning, assaulted and tied up the home’s caretaker, snatched several valuable items, and fled in a stolen Porsche. As the case remains unsolved, questions are swirling about the heist and its mysterious aftermath. Globe reporter Emily Sweeney explains what we know so far. Head to the link to read more. Reporting by Emily Sweeney and Lea Skene Video by Raphael Chinca #localnews #beverlyma#massachusetts ? original sound – The Boston Globe
* The technician has been told it’s okay to hand me the part (that they call “the butterfly”), and I’ll install it myself.
The crisis that Trump created in Iran is a total diplomatic mess. So, of course he’s returning to his comfort zone from The Apprentice, of being the big, bad boss. “You’re Fired!”
Trump threatens to fire Powell if he does not resign from the Fed
https://www.nytimes.com/live/2026/04/15/us/trump-news#trump-powell-fed-fire
The joke is that Trump has no authority to fire Powell.
Tonight’s PBS News Hour had this segment about the art of Paddington Bear.
In 2018, I was interested in seeing a Paddington illustration exhibit at the Eric Carle Museum in Amherst, MA. But between recovering from melanoma skin cancer and being the trustee of my late parents’ estate, I didn’t make it out there.
https://carlemuseum.org/explore-art/exhibitions/past-exhibition/paddington-comes-america
The museum is located at one end of the Hampshire College campus. Today came the shocking, yet not surprising, news that Hampshire College will be shutting down. That leaves UMass and Amherst College in Amherst, along with Mount Holyoke in South Hadley and Smith College in Northampton, with the latter two being schools for women.
“Pratt is near the top of a short list of the greatest cartoonists ever to ply the trade.” — The New York Times
Aww, shucks. Such a nice compliment. But, alas, I suppose they could be referring to Ugo Prat. I subtracted letters from my name for Dog Rat, and Prat added letters to his name to come up with Hugo Pratt.
That small sample was my first exposure to Pratt’s work. It came from this book, A History of the Comic Strip, by Pierre Couperie and Maurice Horn.
The book had just been published in English when, in the eighth grade, to my delight I saw a copy at the town library. Over the course of several months I devoured that book, checking it out as frequently as the library allowed. I valued it so much that I later bought a copy.
I felt that my obsession with cartooning and comic books was being validated. I was particularly pleased seeing a page about Marvel Comics with this drawing by Marie Severin.
Hugo Pratt received only a brief mention elsewhere in the book, but I later became more familiar with his work. Pratt’s style combined elements of Alex Toth and Jesse Marsh. Frank Miller in his later work seemed to adopt Pratt’s “flat brush” inking techniques.
In front of me right now is the new book, CORTO MALTESE: Fable of Venice and Other Adventures. There are links to purchase a copy in this NYTimes review.
