Hasta La Gadget!

I love a live show, particularly a fun and rousing musical. So, when my wife approached me to see a local version of beloved “Mamma Mia!” at the John W. Engeman Theater in Northport, New York, I jumped at the chance.

“Mamma Mia,” of course, features the songs of ABBA, one of my favorite ’70s bands (and yours too, I bet, if you are age 50 or older). But anyone in those coveted younger demographics not familiar with “Dancing Queen,” “Waterloo,” “The Winner Take All,” “Take a Chance on Me” and, of course, “Mamma Mia!” should book their seats today for these two jam-packed hours of pure escapist entertainment.

The John W. Engeman Theater is one of those quaint and historic meeting grounds from yesteryear riddled with charm and nostalgia; reminiscent of the old Regency Theater on the upper West Side in Manhattan. The set, designed predominantly in shades of blue and green, equates the perfect tone for this uplifting musical tale. And…ka-ching! ka-ching!…staying local meant I could both avoid the hassle of traveling to Times Square in Manhattan and saving what amounts to a considerable chunk of change.

Never underestimate the value of these local productions.

In case you are not familiar with the storyline, “Mamma Mia” unfolds on a Greek Island when, on the eve of her wedding, a daughter’s quest to discover the identity of her father brings three men from her mother’s past back to the island 20 years before. The mother, never married, was intent on being an independent woman, and her young daughter, marrying at the young age of 20, seizes the opportunity to get some answers.

Hannah Slabaugh as young Sophie Sheridan possesses the sweetness and wonderment necessarily for the role. Paired with Jacob Dickey as Sky, you root for this young couple, who ultimately step aside for Michelle Dawson as Sophie’s Mama Donna Sheridan when she finds true love in the man that slipped away. Both Slabaugh and Dawson are highly sufficient and musically adept leading this cast of over one dozen, as is Sean Hayden as Donna’s long-lost love Sam. And Frank Vlastnik as Felix Unger-ish Harry, one of the potential three Dads, adds another tone to the diversified mix. But it was Heather Patterson King and Robin Lounsbury as Donna’s lifelong friends Tanya and Rosie, reunited for the nuptials, who steal the proverbial show, so to speak, lighting up the room in every moment.

Lounsbury’s Rosie finding her own love care of Jeff Williams as Bill, potential father No. 3 of Sophie, was the icing on this tasty musical re-telling that sent the audience up on their feet singing and dancing along with the cast by the truly grand finale.

The rest of the ensemble was filled with an array of talented dancers and singers.

For a pure fun and entertainment, coupled with a slice of small town America in picturesque Northport, New York, take a chance at “Mamma Mia!” at the John W. Engeman Theater in Northport (which runs for just three more weeks).

For more information, contact the theater directly at 631/261-2900 or visit www.EngemanTheater.com.

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Being able to see through walls, or right past a block of concrete is definitely something that many of us would love to have. After all, it would turn us into super sleuths, as we can figure out just where hidden compartments are in a crime scene, and of course, for the boys who have their raging hormones in check, they might use it to satisfy their lust. Not so with the $299 WalabotDIY, however, as it is a device that enables one to gain ‘Superman vision’, or X-ray vision, depending on how you would like to call it.

The WalabotDIY is a 3D imaging tool that offers consumers the chance to enjoy ‘Superman vision’ when it comes to tackling home renovation projects, construction and DIY tasks. Vayyar Imaging is the company behind the WalabotDIY, a device that has been specially created for the home renovator, construction worker, and DIY enthusiast.

With the WalabotDIY, one will be able to see through drywall, cement and other materials in order to determine the location of pipes, wires, and even rodents’ nests if you would like to flush out those pests. It is available in the US at launch exclusively, where the power of 3D imaging will now be made available to consumers in the palm of their hand for the first time.

It does not matter whether you would like to hang a gallery wall, or to install some shelves, or even to hunt down the pesky leak or to drill into a wall without the fear of hitting a pipe or electrical wire, the WalabotDIY is able to help you out. It plays nice with all smartphones that are powered by Android 5.0 and above, where it will be equipped with USB OTG, and connects magnetically to the back of the phone. All you need to do is to download the WalabotDIY app via Google Play and go through a short calibration process, where the WalabotDIY can then be used to scan the wall, and the wall images are then projected on the smartphone’s screen.

Press Release
[ WalabotDIY allows consumers to gain X-ray vision for home improvement projects copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]

WASHINGTON ― After bragging for a year about how cheaply he was running his campaign, Donald Trump is spending more freely now that other people are contributing ― particularly when the beneficiary is himself.

Trump nearly quintupled the monthly rent his presidential campaign pays for its headquarters at Trump Tower to $169,758 in July, when he was raising funds from donors, compared with March, when he was self-funding his campaign, according to a Huffington Post review of Federal Election Commission filings. The rent jumped even though he was paying fewer staff in July than he did in March. 

The Trump campaign paid Trump Tower Commercial LLC $35,458 in March ― the same amount it had been paying since last summer ― and had 197 paid employees and consultants. In July, it paid 172 employees and consultants.

“If I was a donor, I’d want answers,” said a prominent Republican National Committee member who supports Trump, asking for anonymity to speak freely. “If they don’t have any more staff, and they’re paying five times more? That’s the kind of stuff I’d read and try to make an (attack) ad out of it.”

“If I was a donor, I’d want answers. If they don’t have any more staff, and they’re paying five times more? That’s the kind of stuff I’d read and try to make an (attack) ad out of it.”
Republican National Committee member

In addition to the rent for Trump Tower space in Manhattan, Trump has paid his eponymous golf courses and restaurants more than $260,000 since his campaign and the RNC struck a joint fundraising deal in mid-May, after he essentially locked up the GOP nomination. On May 18, the day the fundraising deal was announced, Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach was paid $29,715; Trump National Golf Club in Jupiter, Florida, was paid $35,845; and Trump Restaurants LLC was paid $125,080, according to FEC records. Such large payments were much rarer when Trump was self-funding.

It’s unclear from the campaign filings the purpose of the golf course and restaurant payments, although both of the Florida golf courses hosted Trump campaign news conferences in March. Also unclear from the filings is whether Trump is using more space in Trump Tower than he was in the spring and, if he is, why, given that his staffing is lower.

The Trump campaign did not respond to The Huffington Post’s queries.

The FEC filings show that Trump began increasing the rent at Trump Tower starting with the May 31 payment of $72,800. The Trump campaign paid $110,684 in rent on June 9, and $169,758 on July 10.

The campaign’s number of paid employees and consultants went from 166 in May, to 139 in June, to 172 in July. How many of those actually worked in Trump Tower cannot be determined from the FEC filings, although typically only a small fraction of a presidential campaign’s staff works in the headquarters building. Last autumn, only about a dozen of the campaign’s several dozen paid employees worked in Manhattan.

Trump continues to fly to campaign events on his personal Boeing 757 airliner, even though the aging jet burns some $10,000 in fuel every hour. That has made air travel one of the biggest expense categories for his campaign. In July alone, $495,000 went to Trump’s company that owns the plane.

Prior to May, three-quarters of the $59 million spent by Trump’s campaign had come out of his own pocket ― meaning that whatever Trump charged his campaign for rent was largely coming from Trump himself.

That situation is now entirely reversed. Trump’s money makes up a tiny percentage of his campaign’s spending. The bulk now comes from outside donors, both small-dollar givers and those writing maximum-limit checks of $2,700.

“Nobody cares when you’re spending your own money, but when you’re spending the donor’s $27, that could cause problems,” the RNC member said, adding that small donors especially may not be sympathetic to Trump’s extravagance. “Most campaigns run on a much tighter budget.”

For many months, Trump’s campaign prided itself on its low-rent operation. It invited reporters in to tour its headquarters on the fifth floor of Trump Tower that had once been used as production offices for “The Apprentice” TV show, which starred Trump. Photos and video from those tours show work space with unfinished ceilings, makeshift drywall partitions, and only a few campaign workers.

Commercial real estate is available in the midtown Manhattan neighborhood in the range of $70 per square foot annually, although Trump has charged more than that. Trump Tower rented 9,000 feet of office space in December at $120 per square foot, but has been unable to rent a 15,000 square-foot office that includes six terraces overlooking Fifth Avenue, even at a discounted rent of $90 per square foot.

Democrat Hillary Clinton has been leasing two entire floors in a Brooklyn office building totaling 80,000 square feet since the start of her campaign. The rent for that space has been about $212,000 per month.

Editor’s note: Donald Trump regularly incites political violence and is a serial liar, rampant xenophobe, racist, misogynist and birther who has repeatedly pledged to ban all Muslims — 1.6 billion members of an entire religion — from entering the U.S.

— This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.