Good morning & welcome to Roast Dinner Day Never underestimate the strength behind a smile. Sometimes it hides sadness, pain, fear and tears that the world knows nothing about. So be kind, always. You never truly know what someone is carrying behind their smile.

“Every faculty you have, your power of thinking or of moving your limbs from moment to moment, is given you by God. If you devoted every moment of your whole life exclusively to His service you could not give Him anything that was not in a sense his own already ... It is like a small child going to its father and saying, 'Daddy, give me sixpence to buy you a birthday present.' It is all very nice and proper, but only an idiot would think that the father is sixpence to the good on the transaction.” ― C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

"I went to the Cirque du Soleil tribute to the Beatles and I was sitting in the second row, bawling. I tried not to be vocal, but I was so blown away when I saw that hologram of the four Beatles walking onstage, that just took me. The reality of the thing brought me to my knees . . . that just wiped me out. "I love all the songs that they've done. I started finding my voice around the time the Beatles started playing and I bought everything they recorded. I learned all of their songs and taught them to my students in junior high school in Washington DC. When I made the transition from teaching in the classroom to entering the fray as a recording artist, I was listening to the Beatles. Everybody was listening to the Beatles. "They created a lot of discussion in the black community, particularly in the black community of music. Because during those days we had a lot of doo-wop groups and we had Chuck Berry and we had Otis Redding, Wilson Pickett, and James Brown. And it seemed to me that when these guys came busting out of England, they busted out with all that influence. You could hear Chuck Berry, you could hear Otis Redding. You could hear it. It was wonderful. When I did 'Oh Darling' [on Let It Be Roberta] I thought it was a throwback. I thought 'Oh Darling' is a blues. I don't care how you look at it — it has blues (chord) changes. I didn't change any of the chords, I just sang it like it was a blues. "The Beatles wear me out, they're too talented. Their music is so important, not only because the songs are easily accessed by even the layman's ears, but also by musicians. I could hear in the melodies a brilliance like Schubert. They were so far ahead of their time. "In my life I’ve had the opportunity to cover so many beautiful, beautiful songs, with great melodies. And the Beatles have the largest collection of those songs for me. My passion [for their music] comes from the magical genius of the greatest songwriters of all time. Love, inspiration, friendship and my own life's lessons come together when I sing the songs they created." --#RobertaFlack #Roberta #Soul #Jazz #RandB #TheVoice #Grammys #HallsOfFame #TheBeatles #Songs #Original #Influence #GOAT Sources: National Post, 2012; Soul&Jazz&Funk, 2012; The Guardian, 2015; Liner notes, 'Let It Be Roberta'

Did I call it or what 20 months ago?! Republicans suck at governing and ALWAYS overreach when they come into power and f*ck shit up. ALWAYS!

NYC is now offering free dog and cat food at 22 food pantries across all five boroughs to help families struggling with rising costs and prevent pets from being surrendered to shelters. 📷 Getty Images/ NYCMayor

SIR PATRICK STEWART (1940-2026) Before everything else, Patrick was defined by being born and bred in Yorkshire, the proud county in the north of England which he loved to the end. You could hear it in his accented voice and in the stern honesty with which he told you what he thought and felt. Yorkshiremen have no truck with half-truths or avoidance of big issues. He wore his heart on his sleeve, which made him a man to rely on, to admire and in my case, love. We first met as ambitious young actors with the Royal Shakespeare Company half a century ago but we weren’t in the same productions. My first strong memory was a few years later, meeting him in the street in central London when he told me about an offer to take over a leading part in 'Star Trek'. “But Patrick think of your stage career in the UK. Do you really want to risk—getting lost in Hollywood for years and years?”. Well, he took the risk and thank goodness for us all that he did for not just his devoted Trekkies but film and theatre audiences, who marvelled at his using international celebrity to star in a string of cinema successes ('X-Men' of course) and in great classical plays by Shakespeare, Ibsen, Arthur Miller, Peter Shaffer, Pinter and Beckett at Stratford-upon-Avon, in London’s West End and on Broadway. America was his adopted home, where he met his adored Sunny who has cared for him through sickness and health, through thick and thin. But he never forsook his origins: and the proudest achievement of the most respected and beloved actor of his generation on either side of the Atlantic, was his appointment as Chancellor of Huddersfield University in Yorkshire. His farewell performance in 'Avengers: Doomsday' is yet to be seen. Ian McKellen 29 October 2026 Photo: University of Huddersfield

"Keith liked the Beatles because he was quite interested in their chord sequences. He also liked their harmonies, which were always a slight problem to the Rolling Stones. Keith always tried to get the harmonies off the ground but they always seemed messy. It didn't work . . . "I admired the Beatles because they were trailblazers. They showed the way. I think everyone got turned on to the idea of writing songs by the Beatles. "They were so big that it’s hard for people not alive at the time to realise just how big they were. There isn’t a real comparison with anyone now. They were so big that to be competitive with them was impossible. "Nobody will ever be as big as the Beatles. It will be ages before anything like their success happens again." --#MickJagger #Mick #Stones #RollingStones @MickJagger #RockAndRoll #HallOfFame #Knight #Influence #Beatles #TheBeatles #Songwriting #Trailblazers Sources: According To The Rolling Stones, Rosenstein; Larry King Live, 2010; Rolling Stone, 1995

Yogi Berra joined the Yankees in 1946, fresh out of the Navy, where he had served for three years during WWII. Berra went to Yankee Stadium still wearing his Navy uniform, and the first person he met was Yankee clubhouse man Pete Sheehy. "I bet I don’t look much like a ballplayer," Berra told Sheehy. Sheehy replied: "You didn’t look much like a sailor, either." "Big Pete" Sheehy was the equipment manager for the Yankees from the age of 17 until his death at age 75. Sheehy was there when Babe Ruth slugged his 60th home run of the 1927 season. When Lou Gehrig realized his career was over, he flipped his glove to Sheehy and said: "I’m done, Pete." He witnessed home runs by Babe Ruth and the MVP season of Don Mattingly. In between, he was part of the organization for 21 World Series titles and eight additional American League pennants. Pete Sheehy was the man who issued Mickey Mantle uniform # 7, after Mantle was recalled from Kansas City, so he could get a new start rather than be given his original # 6. There is also a plaque in the Yankee dugout that reads: "Pete Sheehy. 1927-1985. The Keeper of the Pinstripes." Yogi Berra and Pete Sheehy, 1983.

Last Monday, my cat came home with a folded note tucked under his collar. "Does this cat belong to you? He visits me every morning. I'd love to know his name." There was a house number underneath. Oliver is eleven. He's always been friendly, but lately he'd been leaving after breakfast and coming home around lunchtime. I assumed he was sleeping in someone's garden. I wrote back. "His name is Oliver. He has a home, so please don't feed him. But thank you for looking out for him." The next morning, he came home with another note. "I haven't fed him. He just sits with me while I have my coffee. Thank you for telling me." On Thursday, I walked around the corner to see where he'd been going. The house was small, with a narrow porch and two wooden chairs. An older man was sitting in one of them, reading a newspaper. Oliver was asleep in the other. The man looked up when I stopped at the gate. "Are you Oliver's person?" I said yes. He introduced himself as Walter. He'd retired from driving buses two years earlier and spent most mornings on the porch. Oliver had first appeared during a rainstorm, walking straight up the steps and sitting beneath the roof. "He didn't want anything," Walter said. "Just somewhere dry." I asked whether he'd been coming back ever since. Walter smiled. Then he reached beside his chair and picked up a little notebook. He'd been keeping a record of the birds he saw from the porch. But over the last three weeks, he'd added something beneath nearly every date. "Cat came at nine."

If you are a Brewers fan, I guarantee you this is the best video you will watch all day. Every player’s reaction to the moment the World Series was won.

Congratulations to David Cone for being named the 2026 Players Choice Awards Curt Flood Award winner 👏 The Curt Flood Award is bestowed upon a former Player who demonstrates a longtime devotion to the @MLBPA and advancement of players’ rights.

Bob Uecker smiling down 🥹🙏🏾🕊️

Had the same thought…… 👇

What a horrific look for everyone involved. This organization is in an awful position.

Says a lot coming from him, just saying

I WISH we could do something about it. @elonmusk! You love Bach! Please make it possible to report racism.

"I love the Beatles . . . I remember riding down the highway with a very good friend of mine. 'Yesterday' came on the radio. I said, 'Man, who is that?' He said that’s the Beatles. I went, 'No!' When I heard that I knew that the Beatles were not gonna be a fly-by-night group. My intuition on that was true, and I’m glad, because we needed that kind of convincing that even rock and roll music was here to stay. 'Crossover' wasn’t popular yet. Probably the most popular crossover thing was when Ella Fitzgerald did 'Can’t Buy Me Love.' It was like, 'Wow, Ella Fitzgerald is singing a Beatles tune!' She tore it up to show that it could be done. "Creed Taylor [A&M producer] invited me to his office one night and said, 'George, take this home and listen to this new record.' I took Abbey Road home and listened to it. I said to myself, it just reaffirms why the Beatles are so big, because all of the songs were so unique and so incredible. I came back the next day and said, 'Man, everything on here is a monster.' He said, 'Good. We’ll do the whole album.' I was shocked. 'That will make me the enemy of the jazz world, man!' But we got in the studio and the great arranger, Don Sebesky, arranged these beautiful things for a chamber orchestra. It's one of the best records I think I’ve ever made. Their music in my mind is so high class — wonderful songs that were light years ahead of their time. "Music will never die, and it will never settle in one place. Lots of jazz musicians, when they heard the Beatles, said, 'Ah, that music ain’t going to last.' That’s when I learned my lesson. What are we supposed to do, sit back and wait till it dies? We’ll be dead before their music dies." --#GeorgeBenson #Guitarist #TheOtherSideOfAbbeyRoad @GBguitar #Jazz #JazzFusion #Grammys #TheBeatles #Influence #Songwriting Sources: SiriusXM, 2019; Ultimate Classic Rock, 2024; Jazz Weekly, 2014; Music & Musicians, 2014

What a call by Wisconsins very own… the magic of sports man 😭⚾️

Upstate New York doing Upstate New York things 🍁

DO YOU STAND WITH JOJO? Joanne Carducci, who you know on Twitter as as JoJo From Jerz, told a podcast this week that a Trump Lawyer sent her a letter threatening that she would lose her home, be bankrupted unless she retracted some of her posts. Although the letter was sent months ago this is the first time JoJo has made it public. Your Thoughts?