The Walt Disney Company Hit with Record Fine by California DOJ - WDW News Today

This news item caught my attention at least in part because the state of California is doing what the federal government is derelict in doing: holding large companies responsible for acting as they should. 

Disney said that consumers could opt out of marketing, but then proceeded to sell information anyway. 

So Disney must pay a fine and change that practice. 

I'll take any small wins. 

And Disney -maybe- will do more to treat customers "right" and -again maybe- be a leader in the industry. 

https://wdwnt.com/2026/02/the-walt-disney-company-hit-with-record-fine-by-california-doj/

Why Scientists Are Rethinking 60 Years of Arctic Snow Data

Science is kind of awesome in that we keep updating what we know and adjusting theories accordingly. 

And while this might be hard to fit in to what (we think) we know, it's interesting to see that we probably need to look at the data we collected a little differently. 

Remember that the method for data collection was suspect until fairly recently. 

And I remain confident that at some point, we'll understand just what the data is telling us. I mean, really telling us. 

https://scitechdaily.com/why-scientists-are-rethinking-60-years-of-arctic-snow-data/

EPA revokes a key legal underpinning in fighting climate change | AP News

I am extremely bothered by this outcome. Years ago, under Obama, they EPA made clear that there was climate change and that we needed to protect against that. 

Now some of the same members who voted that way are playing some stupid political game that is - and will be more so in the future - harmful. 

Just ignore the science and side with whatever nonsense T-rump says. Great. Just great. 

And it goes on from there. Our water is in danger. Our air in in danger. Our environment overall is in danger. 

And there's an underlying thought that cars don't need to have emissions standards, or to have higher gas mileage. We want to go back to the polluting days of 50+ years ago. Because Murica!

While the rest of the world is looking at efficiency and standards. 

We have lost our way. 

 

https://apnews.com/article/trump-climate-change-epa-clean-air-act-c149d5ea6ec71c862e6c4b578adf92cd

Soarin (again)

Things changed and the guy in 2nd started playing and got a nice lead on me. Since I couldn't overtake that guy after he moved to 1st, I decided to create a new player (the MIA below) and have him move into 3rd. 

So I now have spots #2 & #3. Which is a different amount of fun. 

Super Bowl predictions

Seattle won, which was expected. 

As the playoffs progressed, I went back and looked at the model I developed. I streamlined it a lot, and went back to 2015 to see if it was true then, too.   It was!

Here's what I did:

• In week 10, I looked at the 4 teams from each conference who had the highest point differential at that point in the season. 
• in all but one year, one of those 8 teams won the Super Bowl. The exception was in 2018, when New England won; they were the fifth best team in the AFC. (I should note that the 5th best did make the superbowl a few times, but this was the only win). 
• Taking the 5 best in each conference solves this problem

• At season's end, I took those teams and looked at the average points per game that were allowed on defense (for the entire year)
• some of the teams didn't make the playoffs.  That's okay, any of the remaining teams are all we need to consider 
• other teams made the playoffs, but because they weren't in the first 10, they weren't considered - None of them have ever won the Super Bowl. 

• Last, I sorted them by PPG allowed, and the team with the lowest PPG allowed is the expected winner. 
• The playoffs are a little weird, and its hard to call a winner.  In the 11 years I considered:
• 2 times, the superbowl champion was the best team (so we knew at the start of the playoffs)
• 3 times, the next best after the wildcard weekend won
• 3 times, the next best after the divisional playoffs won
• 3 times, it went to the conference championship
• There was only one year where the best team didn't win; the second best did.  That was in 2022 when Kansas City beat Philadelphia on the last drive. Everything else seemed right to that point.

So, essentially, we always know that the superbowl winner will come from that group, and we can assess the likelihood of a team winning as the playoffs progress...

 

Nikola Tesla

Tesla was an inventor very much ahead of his time. His scientific endeavors went further than anyone - before or since - had gone. 

But his prolific works often were stolen. Amazingly (even for his time) he took it in stride. At some point he said:

"I Don't Care That They Stole My Idea… I Care That They Don't Have Any Of Their Own."

The Seattle Seahawks

On the surface, its kind of bizarre that just after they won the SuperBowl, the Seahawks will be sold.

But there's way more to this story.  Paul Allen bought the team (along with some other sports franchises) many years ago.  More recently, he moved those assets (along with others) into a trust.  His explicit directions via his will and that trust were that his sister, Jody, would serve as the trustee, and these teams would be sold, and all proceeds would be directed to charity.

The NFL has a rule that there must be a single, majority owner.  Trusts, and other ownership arrangements are not allowed.  So it makes sense ... sort of ...

 

Except that Paul Allen died in 2018, you know, like 8 years ago, and the sale still hasn't happened.  And you might ask why?  And the answer is in the team's relationship to the city and state.

When funding was approved for the new stadium for the Seahawks, a clause was written in, that if he sold or moved the team within 25 years, he would owe 10% of the value of the team as a penalty.  That agreement was signed in 1999, which means that it literally just expired.

So now that there is no more penalty hanging over the team, the NFL is "encouraging" the sale. 

And in case you wondered, he bought the team in 1997 for just under $200 million.  Its current value is at its peak, after a SuperBowl win, and is estimated to be around $8 billion.  That's around a 400% increase in value in 30 years.

Mind blown.  Dang.  It must be good to be wealthy.  (I'm half kidding)

More importantly, that money is going to charity, where hopefully it will do some tremendous good.  Hats off to him for thinking about making the world a little better through his investment.  And I'm glad the Seahawks won, in that case, to maximize that benefit.