Dave’s Musings
College football is big business. On the one side, you have the players ability to accept payments for their Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL), thanks to several court cases. The NCAA loathes this, because that's money and power *they* are losing in various ways, and so they are lobbying congress to help them sort this out, and help them retain power over the goings on.
And on the other side, you have the "hubbub" about the college football playoffs. For years, they let a vote decide the best team. Then, they allowed for a 4-team playoff, which has helped, but often becomes a bit of a quagmire. Last year, you had a team that probably didn't belong in the playoffs get beaten badly in the championship. This year, you had shenanigans with a team that was left out, despite never having lost, and being part of a big-time conference.
Never forget this is all about money. The NCAA let a team in to the playoff last year, and that didn't work out. So this year, they made sure that all the teams they let in are competitive AND which have fans that will buy up all the packages to see the game. For the poor team that went undefeated, the problem is that their star player got injured and they're just scraping by. That surely doesn't generate enough interest, and hits up against the competitive aspect.
There is a solution of course: expand the number of teams that play, and let it sort itself out on the field. But then, the inherent problem is that you lose out on bowl game revenue, and fewer teams wind up with a win at the end of the season.
| A small company named Astrobotic won a government contract to send a lander with instrumentation to our moon.
The intent is to study the lunar surface - with much more sophistication than we could have imagined in the 1960s - in an effort to build habitats there in the future.
The mission will launch on December 24th from Kennedy Space Center aboard a ULA spacecraft, and will take about a month to touchdown. Landing is planned for January 25th.
Its exciting, and will mark 50 years since an American space craft last landed on the moon!
https://phys.org/news/2023-11-years-moon-january.html |
| Clear Air Turbulence (ie, unexpected turbulence while flying) is on the rise, and there's an interesting look at what is being done in the airline industry in the attached article.
But the more significant part of this story is the WHY there is more turbulence. This has everything to do with Climate Change, and how the atmospheric conditions are different than they were in the past. And they are expected to get worse.
Call it another example of how climate change impacts our everyday lives.
Forbes Clear Air Turbulence |
| Henry Kissinger passed away this week. Now you may be asking yourself what Kissinger has to do with Disney.
And well, the answer lies in the planning for Epcot. Kissinger became the singular authority on international relations and diplomacy. The Disney company wanted to include him as they sold the idea of a permanent worlds fair, with countries all on equal footing in a spirit of harmony.
They invited Kissinger in to view the models, to get some opinions, and (most importantly) to ask him to act as an ambassador of sorts, when he talked with heads of state.
In short, his credibility is one of the main reasons this project moved forward as it did. The World Showcase, as it appeared in 1982, was a direct reflection on his influence.
This picture is of Kissinger being greeted by then-CEO Card Walker as he entered the Contemporary Hotel to see the models.
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| Here's a fun story about how Australia declared war on the Emu population, and lost.
TL;DR. In the 1930s, Emus (yes the flightless bird) migrated due to changing habitats (quick aside: its a relatable moment as we see habitats changing today as well), and were destroying crops. The government deployed "Great War" veterans to literally exterminate them with machine guns. And .... it was a bit of a disaster. The Emus spread out and found ways to thrive.
https://historyfacts.com/world-history/fact/in-1932-australia-declared-a-war-against-emus-and-lost/ |
One Little Spark …
| There's been an ongoing schism in the (formerly "united") Methodist Church over their stance on LGBTQ issues.
In short, about a year ago, the church unilaterally decided to not accept that anyone could possibly be gay and have taken a position that anyone who identifies as such is not welcome in the church. How very christian of them.
Many of the member churches objected to this stance, so they decided to leave the Methodist faith and re-form as something else. Much back and forth later (unsurprisingly much of it legal in nature and not about "the faith"), they were allowed to leave.
Then, a few weeks ago there was a formal vote on 261 churches in Georgia, bringing the total number that left the denomination to 6,225 or about 20% of all the Methodist churches - with the potential - and high likelihood - for more to come.
https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2023/11/19/north-georgia-conference-methodist-church-261-congregations-depart-LGBTQ-rights/7461700413904/ |
Dave’s Musings
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