Dave’s Musings
There was a big event over the weekend that you might have heard about: Taylor Swift performed a concert in Tokyo and then jetted back to Las Vegas to see her boyfriend. And all the hype around that was absolutely hilarious. There were were people breathlessly following it. There were proposition wagers put out by the casinos (would she make it? how many times would she be shown? what would she wear? And on and on). And of course there were a few people who saw it as some sort of political conspiracy.
I was just amused by how entertainment and football overlapped to such a large degree. And then I found out that the entire game would be simulcast on Nickelodeon and would feature Spongebob and Patrick - talk about entertainment and sports crossovers! I watched it. It was delightful, and honestly, much better than watching the game on your typical broadcast.
You can check out the hilights here, put out by the NFL, no less. https://youtu.be/PuYNuxBiEKw?si=BRASKbqJcYM6nFHO
And as to the game, one team won, and the other lost, because that's how it works. But it was close and exciting down the stretch. And spoiler alert! Taylor's boyfriend was on the winning end.
| SpaceX has had a lot of success in launching space craft. And they are close to having success with Starship - which will allow for bigger payloads to be sent into higher orbits (or deeper space).
The Department of Defense has taken notice, and is considering its own options for the future. A little history may be helpful here: the DoD has operations it carries out on Earth and in space that have some national security implications. For Earth-bound missions, they have some planes that they own and fly, and they have contracts with some flight operators to lease planes on an as-needed basis.
For space, to this point, they have used existing rockets (most of which were holdovers from the cold war), and are currently considering options for the next generation. What they would like to do is to contract with SpaceX to launch their rockets, but in some cases - when there is a mission with some sensitivity - to "take over" the operation and launch the rockets themselves.
That's an unusual use case that I'm sure SpaceX is willing to consider.
https://aviationweek.com/defense-space/space/spacex-dod-has-requested-taking-over-starship-individual-missions |
| While he was busy conquering the world, Napoleon was thoughtful about how he could improve life in France. He often brought scientists with him to newly conquered regions to understand the area and see what he could bring back.
In the case of Egypt, his intent was to see if he could make the water from the Nile drinkable, and how to make some advancements with foods.
But, as the story notes, Napoleon returned to France and left some troops and these scientists in Egypt. And that's when the scientists did what scientists do. They studied the natural world and pieced together a history of the people that once lived there.
As a result of Napoleon's actions, these were the first archaeologists, and really that is how archaeology became a thing. Its kind of remarkable.
https://www.businessinsider.com/napoleon-stranded-egypt-savants-birth-modern-archaeology-science?amp |
| A week or so ago, Disney announced the date for their annual shareholder meeting (to be held on April 3) - and they said it would be virtual. Surely a strategic move to further limit the Peltz bid for board seats.
Then late last week, Disney released their latest earnings report and it was good. It exceeded the estimates, so Iger remains hopeful that he can make this somehow work out in his favor.
Disney also scored two wins that bolster their bottom line. They bought a controlling stake in Epic Gaming (they make Fortnight), and they got the Taylor Swift Eras Tour streaming rights (so she'll be on Disney+ starting in March). Both of these moves do show additional progress in making course corrections.
But of course there's still the matter of succession planning. No word on where that stands at this point other than for Disney to make a comment that they have several candidates, which is utterly meaningless. |
| A funny thing happened in the MLS (US pro soccer). Lionel Messi (maybe the best player of all time) signed with InterMiami at the midway point last season. He was fun to watch, but wound up getting injured and missed most of the end of the season.
This offseason, as a means to try and further promote the league, Miami signed a few of Messi's former teammates and went on a multi-country exhibition tour.
The team didn't fare well against the local teams, and Messi got injured along the way (again), appearing briefly against Al Nassr, where Ronaldo didn't suit up at all (so much for that hyped matchup with another great player). And Messi only played "off the bench" near the end of games in several, and not at all in one game.
And that one game in Hong Kong has China complaining because ticket prices were high, and people travelled from far away, to see the world's best soccer player (Messi of course). They claimed all manner of things including false advertising. There was also a little matter of hurt feelings over cancelled games in mainland China.
In any event, ultimately fans got partial refunds.
Now we head into his first full MLS season. I think its clear that Messi won't start every game - and may play sparingly in some games, or not at all in others. Which will upset people who paid top dollar just to see him.
This phenomena is very strange, indeed. And I think it reminds us that the MLS is not quite ready for primetime, and fans are only interested in seeing that one player. |
One Little Spark …
| The end of the Civil War in the United States may have officially ended slavery. But, there were a number of new problems that came as a result, and we weren't quite ready to address them. Among the questions were: What happens to the newly liberated people? How can they become productive members of society? And what should the plantation owners do to remain profitable without "free" labor?
Of course, there were suggestions about granting land to the emancipated population, or Lincoln's thoughtful but misguided idea to send people to somewhere in Africa where they could be educated and later brought back to integrate into society. But those didn't happen.
Land owners worked hard to maintain control through low wage jobs, indentured servitude, and (with the help of the criminal justice system) forcing prisoners to work the crops as laborers, for free. Small crimes among blacks and other immigrants could be harshly punished to ensure a supply of labor.
Mostly, this practice died out over the ensuing 150+ years. Or did it? The Associated Press followed inmates-made-to-be-day laborers, and it would seem this practice is (very sadly) still in use today.
https://apnews.com/article/prison-to-plate-inmate-labor-investigation-c6f0eb4747963283316e494eadf08c4e |
Dave’s Musings
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