Panda Express's Founders Built a $7 Billion Empire. Now They're Helping 55,000 Employees Become Homeowners

The summary of the attached article is that Panda Express is privately owned. They are touting that they help employees to become homeowners. Sounds nice, right?

The company made $7 billion last year and has about 55,000 employees - most of which are hourly people making a little above minimum wage. 

There are some managers in the ranks, and they start at $65k, while the higher level managers can make as much as $200k. 

And this “help” they provide is in the general benefits package. It teaches people what it takes to buy a house and suggests ways to save money for a down payment and how to afford monthly payments. 

It strikes me that this kind of thing really should be in every company’s benefits package. It’s nothing special, really. 

And it’s a sad statement on the nature of things that greasy chicken from a mall food court is an industry this large - and the owners just rake in that money. 

By the way, the company does run a children’s charity. But it’s not funded by the company or its owners. Rather, they ask customers to “round up” and that money goes to the charity. 

So it’s not like the owners are doing much, really… 

https://www.inc.com/amaya-nichole/panda-express-founders-built-7-billion-dollar-empire-now-helping-employees-become-homeowners/91396527

Words to live by.

In the memoir by Gladys West, she talks about her upbringing, and her faith. 

There’s a passage where she reminds us that this bible - that many conservatives seem to have never read yet claim to have - has some passages about being better, benefitting others, and in her estimation sharing one’s knowledge and wealth. 

In 2017, SpaceX proposed flying passengers from New York to Shanghai in 39 minutes by sending Starship through space and landing it vertically near the destination—and while that service remains speculative, the rocket architecture behind it has now flown through space and survived re-entry.

I’ve talked about this before. Among the (seemingly crazy) ideas that Elon had, was one whereby you could board a rocket in, say, Texas, and it would go up and you might land in Singapore within an hour or two. 

The notion is intriguing - even if it’s far fetched. 

https://spacedaily.com/t-spacex-earth-to-earth-new-york-shanghai-39-minutes/

A Teen Reporter Searched for His Community in the Epstein Files. Adults Freaked Out. - Longreads

This is a good read. A student journalist looked into the Epstein files and found the name of a local woman. The editorial staff decided to publish. The woman threatened to sue … and everyone kind of freaked out. Because of course they did. 

The student reporter was the most rational and mature person in the room. Everyone else was acting essentially like a child. 

https://longreads.com/2026/07/24/redwood-high-school-bark-epstein-journalism/

From Marlon Brando’s private island to a thriving wildlife sanctuary, Tetiaroa records 15,614 turtle hatchlings | Sea and Job

This is pretty cool. In 1966, after filming Mutiny on the Bounty in Polynesia, Marlon Brando purchased an island and turned it into a wildlife sanctuary. 

And what do you know? A large number of turtle hatchlings are born there each year. 

https://www.seaandjob.com/from-marlon-brandos-private-island-to-a-thriving-wildlife-sanctuary-tetiaroa-records-15614-turtle-hatchlings/

Oof. Those Miami dolphins.

The Miami dolphins have become a laughing stock to a large degree. 

In the 26 years this century, the dolphins have had two owners, 12 head coaches, 27 players start at QB (soon to be 28), and two major scandals (the hazing one that divided people in weird ways, and the ongoing racially charged one that appears headed for trial) - plus assorted less-prominent ones (offering a contract to a new head coach while you still have one, focusing on revenue at the stadium, etc) 

And of course they have only made the playoffs in 6 of those seasons, and have not won a single playoff game in that span. 

It’s epic futility!

And here comes another season. The new coach says that success won’t be defined by winning. Which suggests losing is in the future. Enjoy it fans, if you’re still interested! Oh, and pay full price! 

https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/49764367/dolphins-hafley-says-success-defined-winning

Dolphins fans have heard this one before. One of the other coaches talked about “failing forward fast” which kinda sounds like the same thing!

https://youtu.be/M4q1thh1G20?is=X841GmEv0TtEZydd

Miami has always been a town of “front running phonies” and transplants who root for the team from whence they came. 

And now you have a generation+ who have had nothing to root for here. This team used to rule the town and dominate conversations. And now, few seem to care. And that will only get worse. 

Good luck owner dude. But you’re still profitable, so why would you care?

The Miami Dolphins have used 27 different starting quarterbacks since Dan Marino retired after the 1999 season.

Starting Quarterbacks List
• 2000–2004: Jay Fiedler, Damon Huard, Ray Lucas, Brian Griese, A.J. Feeley, Sage Rosenfels

• 2005–2009: Gus Frerotte, Daunte Culpepper, Joey Harrington, Cleo Lemon, Trent Green, John Beck, Chad Pennington, Chad Henne

• 2010–2019: Tyler Thigpen, Matt Moore, Ryan Tannehill, Jay Cutler, Brock Osweiler, Ryan Fitzpatrick, Josh Rosen

• 2020–2025: Tua Tagovailoa, Jacoby Brissett, Teddy Bridgewater, Skylar Thompson, Tyler Huntley, Quinn Ewers

• 2026 Malik Willis 

A new long range telescope

On Sunday morning, NASA launched the Nancy Grace Roman telescope into orbit. It will take some time to reach its desired location, because it’s headed to a Lagrange point (like the James Webb space telescope, this will sit in a space between two gravitational objects so it’s unaffected by them and can see great distances through our solar system). 

The telescope will look into but cosmos and study dark matter and dark energy. It’s a most exciting thing!

This is the first satellite named after a woman, and who better than astronomer Nancy Grace Roman. You can read her story here: 

https://science.nasa.gov/mission/roman-space-telescope/who-is-nancy-grace-roman/