Sex Ed in Florida doesn’t educate about sex

The governor is at it again. He's telling schools that they can't actually teach about sex, can't talk about anatomy, and can't show pictures of reproductive organs. 

Of course, they have to promote abstinence and can not talk about birth control. 

And naturally parents can opt out. 

Because why talk about the human body? Why should budding adults have any idea what's going on in their bodies?

In Minnesota, Tim Walz offers menstrual products. In Florida, duhsantis is happy to just call that a lady problem and moves on. 

https://apnews.com/article/florida-sex-education-curriculum-5b1a46f5a73e3122f4815cf1d439aef0

Floridas insurance crisis

Here's a piece that appeared on 60 minutes recently. 

It tells the  story about how some of the "smaller insurers" in Florida (and to be fair, there really aren't any big ones left at this point) have been screwing customers. 

Intentional underpayments for legitimate damage is the key takeaway. 

But don't miss the fact that the aggrieved have turned to the state for help… but of course the attorney general can't be bothered. You know, she and the governor are pretty aligned in priorities, and serving the public is not at the top of the list…

https://youtu.be/j5re7zBzrJk?si=bSO2XafppPhCfYLE

Xitter and free speech

Elon says Xitter is all about the public square and free speech. Yet, we have heard that he has his team promoting his content and others he likes, while holding back things that he doesn't. And he actively removes people when they say things about him (or something near and dear). 

And just this week, he kicked a reporter off for … reporting.  Because he didn't like the report. 

https://www.newsweek.com/jd-vance-dossier-leak-hack-iran-ken-klippenstein-1960044

And then there's this story about how someone asked why Trump assassination keeps trending. And he responded in a way that got the secret services attention - essentially suggesting that someone target Biden and Harris. 

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2024-09-19/musk-x-post-about-biden-harris-threats-leads-to-secret-service-investigation

I think we can say "what a douche"…

Cards Against Humanity is suing Elon Musk…

This is an interesting story. 

Cards Against Humanity purchased a few acres of land in Texas as a sort of thumb of the nose at the idea of trumps border wall.

They somewhat humorously said they wanted the government to try and take it through eminent domain. 

Anyway flash forward to SpaceX having their launch facility in southern Texas. And, well, they're using the land owned by Cards Against Humanity to store random debris. Without permission. 

So they're suing Musk. But if we look at it, the reason for buying the land in the first place was to make a point. And in keeping it,

And suing, they're making an even more important point: companies can't simply do whatever they want. 

https://www.fastcompany.com/91195653/cards-against-humanity-lawsuit-against-elon-musk-brilliant-stunt-that-makes-a-serious-point

1972 Miami Dolphins

 The passing of Mercury Morris made me reflect on the passage of time.  The undefeated season was going on 52 years ago when the players were mostly young men.  And the coaching staff was fairly young as well.

But now, all of the coaches and the owner have died, and 21 of the 45 players have likewise moved to valhalla, where no doubt they feast and are revered.

And a word about the legend of the team popping champagne when the last team falls: a few of the players lived in the same neighborhood in west Miami in the 1980s.  They were friends, and a few would hoist a pint to celebrate their success, and remember their accomplishment during the ensuing football seasons.  Then, sometime in the early 90s one of the news outlets seized on that idea and took pictures of them celebrating after the last team fell - even if it was mildly staged.  And a legend was born.

They were always proud of their success, but also knew there was some amount of luck involved.  And while they would welcome another team to their ranks, they always enjoyed being special.

By their jersey number, here are the players who are still with us:

11. Jim Del Gaizo, quarterback is 77 and living in Plantation FL 

12. Bob Griese, quarterback is 79, is retired and living in Jupiter.

20. Larry Seiple, punter/tight end is 79, is retired and living in The Villages 

26. Lloyd Mumphord, defensive back is 77 and living in Lafayette, La. 

28. Ed Jenkins, running back is 74 and living in Florida, 

39. Larry Csonka, running back is 77 and recently moved to North Carolina.

40. Dick Anderson, safety is 78, living in Miami 

42. Paul Warfield, wide receiver is 81, living in California. 

45. Curtis Johnson, defensive back:is 76, is retired and living in Detroit. 

49. Charlie Babb, safety is 74, retired and living in Naples. 

51. Larry Ball, linebacker is 75 and living in Miami

54. Howard Kindig, offensive lineman is 83, and living in Houston

59. Doug Swift, linebacker is 76 and living in Miami,

60. Al Jenkins, guard is 78, and living in New Orleans. 

65. Maulty Moore, defensive tackle is 78 and living in Florida, 

66. Larry Little, guard: is 78 and living in Florida,  

72. Bob Heinz, defensive tackle is 77 and living in Fresno, California. 

73. Norm Evans, offensive tackle: is 82 and living in Seattle

75. Manny Fernandez, defensive tackle is 78 and living in Ellaville, Georgia. 

77. Doug Crusan, left tackle is 78 and lives in Indianapolis, 

80. Marv Fleming, tight end is 82, and living in Marina del Ray, California  

81. Howard Twilley, wide receiver is 80 and living in Dallas.

82. Otto Stowe, wide receiver is 75 and living in Santa Barbara, California.

83. Vern Den Herder, defensive end is 75 and living in Sioux City, Iowa.

And here are the players who have left us.  The first - and only for a long time - was Wayne Moore who had a heart attack in the 1980s

1. Garo Yepremian, kicker: Died in Pennsylvania in 2015, at age 70, 

7. Billy Lothridge, defensive back: Died in 1996 at 54 in Pensacola

13. Jake Scott, safety: Scott died at the age of 75 in 2020, 

15. Earl Morrall, quarterback: Died in 2014 at age 79; 

21. Jim Kiick. running back: Died in 2020, at age 73,

22. Mercury Morris, running back: died at 77 in 2024

23. Charlie Leigh, running back: Died in Albany, New York, in 2006 at age 60. 

25. Tim Foley, cornerback:  died in St Augustine FL in 2023 at 76

32. Hubert Ginn, running back:  died in 2023 at 76, ih South Carolina.

43. Mike Howell, defensive back: Died in 2016 at 73. 

53, Bob Matheson, linebacker: Died at age 49 in 1994 at Duke University Hospital 

56. Jesse Powell, linebacker: Died in a Texas hospital in 2012 at age 65; 

78. Jim Dunaway, defensive tackle: Died in 2018 at 76;

79. Wayne Moore, offensive tackle: died in 1989, at the age of 44 from a heart attack .

57. Mike Kolen, linebacker: died in 2024 at 76, in  Alabama. 

62. Jim Langer, center: Died in 2019, at age 71,

67. Bob Kuechenberg, guard: Died in 2019, at age 71, in Fort Lauderdale. 

84. Bill Stanfill, defensive end: Died in Albany, Georgia., at 69 in 2016, 

85. Nick Buoniconti, linebacker: Died in New York in 2019 at age 78 

86. Marlin Briscoe, wide receiver:  died on 2022 at 76 in Norwalk, Calif., 

88. Jim Mandich, tight end: Died in 2011, in Miami Lakes, at age 62 

How stupid does he think we are?!

The orange menace reposted a photoshopped picture of Kamala with PDiddy for reasons I can't begin to understand or explain. 

And yet… he's called Diddy his guy, and came out and said he was innocent. And there are tons of pics of him with diddy. Including this one. 

What a pillock

This waste of space, mouth breathing senate candidate wants to know why women over 50 care about abortion.  

Where to begin? How about congrats on understanding one thing in biology; you learned that women reach menopause sometime about that age. But really? You can't understand women's health?!

You just can't make this stuff up. 

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/bernie-moreno-ohio-senate-abortion_n_66f22ca3e4b0199dbefaa30b

breaking down plastics

Here's another team working on how to break down polypropylene and polyethylene using a catalyst - relatively cheap materials - to break the polymer chains. 

So far, they've had some success in a test environment. It will be interesting to see if they can try it out on a large scale and see what the effects are, and whether this could be scaled. 

https://arstechnica.com/science/2024/09/vaporizing-plastics-recycles-them-into-nothing-but-gas/

To Valhalla

I was sad to learn the Eugene "mercury" Morris passed away. He was another of the greats on that '72 undefeated dolphins team and became their ersatz spokesman. 

Mercury was quite the character, but had a darker side where he got involved with drugs, and spent some time in prison after his playing days.  

But he was always kind of humble about it all and was honest about his mistakes. 

I had the pleasure of interviewing him many years ago. I don't recall where the full recording disappeared off to, but here's a clip I put on YouTube. 

https://youtu.be/RUoNbJFf5KM?si=QMviwImHWSw4GMPZ

A step closer to wireless charging

Tesla had acquired several companies that specialized in wireless charging technology, but that seemed to lead nowhere…

Until this week, when they filed a patent on wireless charging technology. And they have shown how it would work with specific cars. Which would seem to indicate this is how the robotaxis would stay charged while on the road. 

This could be an amazing breakthrough, and I might be a little more enthusiastic if it weren't involving Elon musk. 

But in any case, I'm excited about the evolutionary step that's about to happen. 

https://www.greencarreports.com/news/1144426_tesla-wireless-charging-system-patent

Election-related videos

Under the headline "doing what I can to help,"  I decided to produce some short videos about the election, and more specifically why to vote for Kamala - and why not to vote for the orange menace.

They are being posted regularly to TikTok here 

https://www.tiktok.com/@lostandfoundwdw

And they can all be found in a playlist on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oP3oqLLQjcQ&list=PL2P9RQmz1CVMXc3gilWwaKJfSGzyYjTl3

Feel free to watch, share, or ignore (if that's your thing!) 

A refresher on trumps collusion with Russia

This is a look back at the disinformation campaign - and the subversion of the 2016 election. 

Think it couldn't happen again? Think again. 

https://link.motherjones.com/public/34415116

Specialty license plates in Florida

Among the (very many) specialty license plates that are available in Florida, there is one that is Disney World related. 

But the thing is that specialty plates have a special designation, and proceeds from them must benefit a charity.  Disney World worked with the Make-A-Wish foundation, and donates the proceeds there.

They just announced that they reached a milestone in these donations.

The $3 million raised has helped send more than 300 Florida families on unforgettable wish trips, bringing them happiness and hope when it's needed most. Here's what one mom shared with us after her daughter's wish to visit Walt Disney World was granted:

 

"Disney has always represented magical moments for our family and when Vyla's wish was granted, it was more than we could have dreamt of. I couldn't hold back the tears walking into the park because it was a moment we didn't know we would see. We are so grateful for Make-A-Wish, Disney and all of the people who made these moments possible for our family."

Black Trump supporter was called a slave…

There's a story about a black man who claims he was "all in" as a Trump supporter, and wanted to help promote the orange menace. 

Did I need to mention that he's in Flori-duh? I mean we are the seat of stupidity.

He started canvassing (going door to door to talk to people) and then complained about not getting paid and someone in the campaign called him a slave. And so he cried foul, and also talked about how they also asked him to bribe someone. 

I have SO MANY questions. 

Of course there's the headline. He was derided - or at least he took it that way. And that's really all that matters. The campaign seems to have two views: the one that says the person was wrong to say it and the one that buries its head in the sand. 

What century is this again? Why would this even ever come up? 

But to me, there are a couple of deeper issues that came out. 

I know people canvassing for Harris. They do it because they believe in the cause. The Trump campaign is paying people to do the same? Huh? Could that be at least part of the reason he decided to join the team? There's a lot of legal fuzziness around the payments as well. A separate company is contracted to employ people and they have some weirdness going on. 

Then, a spokesman said something about how they track the canvassers, and they can see which houses they went to. That seems much less like a political movement, especially something "grassroots" doesn't it?

How does that work? And who pays for the technology?

And then there's the matter of bribe. Is anyone actually looking into this? Who was being bribed? And why? There's something weird going on there, too. And something about having a black man who was hired as a canvasser setup payments for something seems amiss. There's got to be more to this story. 

https://atlantablackstar.com/2024/08/29/black-trump-supporter-says-he-was-called-a-slave-by-the-conservative-organization-he-was-campaigning-for/

Can you pass the citizenship test - answers

1. c: The printed copies distributed to state delegations and others originally bore just two signatures: those of Congress President John Hancock and Secretary Charles Thomson. The parchment copy most Americans know and revere wasn't engrossed until the following month, and some delegates never signed it.

2. b: The seven red stripes represent valor and "hardiness"; the six white stripes stand for purity and innocence.

3. d: James Madison, often called the "Father of the Constitution," initially opposed having an addendum to the document. But some states held off ratification until a "bill of rights" was added.

4. b: Madison's initial draft of the First Amendment did not include freedom of worship. It read: "The people shall not be deprived or abridged of their right to speak, to write, or to publish their sentiments; and the freedom of the press, as one of the great bulwarks of liberty, shall be inviolable."

5. a: That number was first adopted in 1911. The House temporarily added two more seats following the admissions of Alaska and Hawaii as states in 1959.

6. d: Although George Washington was born in Virginia, the first president could have been foreign-born, so long as he was a U.S. citizen "at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution ..." Martin van Buren was the first president born after the United States broke away from Britain.

7. d: The framers hoped that staggered terms would promote stability and prevent senators from combining for "sinister purposes."

8. a: Before 1951 and the ratification of the 22nd Amendment, presidents could theoretically serve unlimited terms. Franklin D. Roosevelt, who was elected four times but died in office, is the only chief executive to have served more than two terms.

9. b: Congress controls taxing and establishes an annual budget.

10. c: Those three words are the beginning of the preamble. That differs from the Articles of Confederation, adopted in November 1777, which focused on the sovereignty of the states.

Could you pass a citizenship test?

Immigrants seeking to become United States citizens have to show a working knowledge of the nation's history and how the federal government functions. And they don't get multiple choices.

Could YOU pass even a dumbed-down citizenship test? Let's find out!

1. When was the Declaration of Independence adopted?

a. July 4, 1775

b. Christmas, 1782

c. July 4, 1776

d. Oct. 19, 1781

2. What do the stripes on the U.S. flag stand for?

a. They hearken back to the British flag

b. The 13 original colonies

c. The blood shed in the American Revolution

d. No one knows for sure

3. How many amendments make up the Bill of Rights?

a. Five

b. Twenty

c. Thirteen

d. Ten

4. Name one right guaranteed by the First Amendment

a. The right to bear arms

b. Freedom of assembly

c. The right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness

d. The right to privacy

5. How many members are there in the House of Representatives?

a. 435

b. 438

c. 450

d. It fluctuates

6. Which of these is NOT a requirement to be president of the United States?

a. Must be a natural-born citizen

b. Must be at least 35 years old

c. Must have lived at least 14 years in the U.S.

d. Must own property in the U.S.

7. How long do Senators serve?

a. Four years

b. Two years

c. Eight years

d. Six years

8. How many full terms can a president serve?

a. Two

b. Unlimited

c. Three

d. Four

9. Which branch of the federal government controls spending?

a. Executive

b. Legislative

c. Judiciary

d. The Internal Revenue Service

10. What are the first words of the preamble to the U.S. Constitution?

a. "We hold these truths to be self-evident ..."

b. "Four score and seven years ago ..."

c. "We the people ..."

d. "When in the course of human events ..."

— this is from 6ABC.com

Disneys expansion plans and the state …

Disney wants to change the Rivers of America and Tom Sawyers Island to be a cars themed land. 

But to do that, they need to change the water flow that was designed by Joe Potter, prior to park opening. 

Disney - until a few years ago - had autonomy over their water district, and could have easily approved such a a change. Actually there were 6 (at least I remember it being 6) distinct water management districts that could manage water flow as independent boards. 

But, the governor consolidated all water districts, and placed them under his control and made them political tools. 

So when Disney sought to change the Rivers of America, they submitted the proposal to the governing body… and they rejected it for reasons related to how water flows.

And now it requires more study and may impact Disneys proposed timelines for expansion. 

Ah yes, the intended consequences of the governor meddling in Disney politics.  

https://www.wdwmagic.com/attractions/cars-land-magic-kingdom/news/16sep2024-disney-worlds-cars-themed-expansion-faces-minor-roadblock-with-sfwmd-permit-request.htm

Do you see blue or green? This viral test plays with color perception | Well actually

I've often wondered if everyone sees colors the same way I do. I appreciate that there is science which shows that colors are refracted and thus are ostensibly the same. And the anatomy of our eyes means we all perceive it the same way. 

But how do we interpret that color?

This study seeks to look into that in a way. Read the article then follow the link to take the teat yourself. 

https://ismy.blue/

It's kind of interesting to see that we perceive it differently. 

Do you see blue or green? This viral test plays with color perception | Well actually | The Guardian


https://www.theguardian.com/wellness/2024/sep/16/blue-green-viral-test-color-perception

Tua and concussions (again)

In 2022, Tua (the QB for the Dolphins) suffered a concussion one week and was held out for a time, then came back and suffered a severe concussion, which resulted in him displaying the "fencers pose" (which is NOT a good thing).

He played sparingly for the remainder of the season, and "came back strong" in 2023.  He credited weight training and judo for making his stronger.  And behold! While he was hit several times in way that probably would have caused a concussion, he was never diagnosed with one.  

Aside: I posit that there was also a change in the way concussions were evaluated, at least in part to keep players on the field.

He's a below-average to average QB in the league, but the Dolphins decided he was worth investing in (at least in part because the owner is an idiot, but that's a story for another day) and gave him the equivalent of about 20% of all the salary cap.  Most of the $50 million per year over 5 years, guaranteed.

Week 1, he has an average day and mostly underperforms. 

Week 2, he starts off very slow. Doesn't look "sharp" and throws three interceptions. 

And then in the 3rd quarter, he's diving for yardage - stupidly - and runs into a defender, his head gets bent sideways and he winds up on the ground with a severe concussion and the "fencers pose" once again.  

So now it's a question about health and safety.  Sure, it's been 2 years since his last diagnosed concussion (or at least severe one), but in between he's taken hits, and undoubtedly the trauma has built up.

And longer term, should he continue to play? Will he try and come back? And what of the significant amount of money he is owed? Will that hold the team back for a very long time?

On a more amusing side note, what if the no-name low-paid backup has success?  What does that say about the team and its decisions? 

Tyreek Hill gets (almost) arrested

I hadn't planned on talking about this situation, but it has made an extended news cycle, and has some aspects that are worth noting. 

The story is that Tyreek Hill, who plays for the Dolphins football team, was on his way to the game in his fancy sports car.  He was pulled over for speeding which we later learned was on the Turnpike, before he exited onto the roads around the stadium; we are told he was going 55 in a 40 MPH zone and they pulled him over what seems to be much later. 

The police exerted their authority over him, and pulled him out of the car, handcuffed him, and threw him onto the ground. All while (a) they were aware who he was and (b) he was cooperating reasonably well.  I've attached the body cam from one of the officers below so you can see how this played out.

Here's the thing that gets me: sometimes you'll see a video of someone else getting kind treatment by police, and no force is used. 

What's the difference you may ask?

In my humble opinion, this is often about race.  The pleasant white woman is helped along.  The black man in the expensive car gets roughed up because he wasn't OVERLY nice; he was merely acting just like anyone else might.

And therein is the summary of what the Black Lives Matter movement was/is about: being treated the same as everyone else.  Put away the rhetoric and the dumb politics of it and just think about it as being fair.

We can do better.  Having the authority to pull someone out of his car for speeding (but being decent), vs actually doing it, is something we need to discuss.

Maybe this story is the next chapter in that conversation.  We can hope, anyway.

And that, maybe, would have been the end of the story, except another detail emerged later.  A second player (Calais Campbell)  was on his way into the stadium, when he saw what was happening and pulled over “to help.”  The police took exception to that, and restrained him from getting involved. I have heard conflicting reports about whether he was handcuffed or not, but he was viewed as a threat. 

As the situation escalated because of the police action(!), the police made the decision to arrest both Hill and Campbell, and haul them off to jail. 

And that’s when the Dolphins organization stepped in. Remember that this was at the stadium, which the dolphins own. And the dolphins pay for the police to be there (at nearly every stadium, the police are paid overtime to be there as a kind of perk of the job, so essentially they are private security for the team). 

The dolphins learned about the situation, and asked the police to release the players so they could play in the game. 

This raises a whole bunch of other questions for me, and should concern all of us. The police overreached. But then relented because they were asked to by a sports team? Sigh 

Oh and one last thing:  the guy who first posted video of the incident on social media - the video was the impetus for the national attention - was interviewed.  In short, he was only concerned with his football star being able to play in the game! Which is another part of the problem...how about concern for the guy and how policing works?

Tyreek: https://youtu.be/ba9x9a3EGLI?si=A0SH8z6nYNwiBp04

Other case: https://youtu.be/iCrb01JVHCE

Hill made light of the situation on a touchdown celebration. 

Breaking down plastics

Here's an interesting bit of study into using iron trichloride along with sunlight to break down plastics. 

So far this inorganic and seemingly non toxic compound has shown some great success in achieving the goal. 

Science for the win!

https://interestingengineering.com/science/tough-plastics-sustainably-broken-down

Civilian space walks!

SpaceX continues to do some surprising things.  They are, of course, in the money making business, with an eye on the future. They have starlink satellites that provide service. They launch satellites for companies, nations, and even small groups of people.  And they have contracts with NASA to go beyond that.

And sometimes, they act like their competitors, and launch people into space for civilian space travel.  

This past week, they launched a Polaris mission with a few paying customers, and they gave one of them - and a SpaceX engineer - an opportunity to open the Dragon capsule and step out into space.

On September 12th, they successfully did just that. Each of them was in space for a few minutes.  It was remarkably cool.  But more than that, SpaceX has been working on a lighter weight space suit that allows for more mobility than what NASA has ever had.  And on this space walk, they got to test them out.

In effect, someone was paying to field test all of their R&D work.

This

Eloquently put. 😍

Steve Jobs told Bob Iger to plan for his retirement … back in 2011

This is an interesting tale. Steve Jobs told

Bob Iger to retire and enjoy life. 

And 13 years later, we're still pretty much where we were. Iger is still in charge and there's still no succession plan at Disney. 

https://www.businessinsider.com/steve-jobs-bob-iger-not-to-stay-too-long-disney-2024-9

Russian influence

One of the more intriguing stories this election season has to do with Russian influence.  

At the end of the week, the DOJ announced charges against a group of US-based, and fairly prominent bloggers/podcasters/youtubers/influencers.  They are charged with accepting money from Russian agents to produce content that is, essentially, Russian propaganda.  

Of course, there was some content that was specific to the Ukraine war. But there also was a large amount of MAGA-related content.

The influencers all are pleading ignorance.  They didn't know where the money was coming from, and that stories were merely suggested, and it was more about the quantity of stories.  They're innocent!

But as you dig deeper, you see that the money was significant.  They claim its not out of the ordinary for what they take in from advertisers and whatnot, but that is simply not true; it was more than they'd make in several years of doing their work. And it also turns out that the same general stories were told by each of them, effectively nullifying their claim that stories were just suggestions

Of course the orange menace had to chime in on this.  He railed about it being DOJ overreach, and people were falsely accused,  Then added that Putin really wants "Comrade Kamala" elected and not him, so it can't possibly be true! 

Yeah, this is where we are...

Compare and contrast: school shooting responses

Kamala broke down during her speech.  That is Presidential.

Tim Walz says 'there's work to be done' which in the context of his whole talk strikes the right balance. I'll buy that as vice presidential

https://www.the-independent.com/tv/news/georgia-school-shooting-tim-walz-b2607131.html

meanwhile, on the other side....

JD Vance just accepts it as a 'fact of life' which is not very vice-presidential. In fact, its idiotic. Is he even human?

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/sep/06/georgia-school-shooting-trump-vance-harris

And of course, the dumpster fire of an orange person completely missed the mark and has no empathy.  He said: 

"It's a sick and angry world for a lot of reasons and we're going to make it better. We're going to heal our world. We're going to get rid of all these wars that are starting all over the place because of incompetence,"

Now which candidates do you think actually care about people?

Haters gonna hate, hate, hate....

....Shake it off. shake it off...

Taylor Swift may very well be the single most popular and influential person in society at present.

The hype machine was in full force late in the last NFL season as she started dating the Chief's Travis Kelce, and attending his games and the Superbowl.  It brought new fans to the sport, though not to the game itself.  Only to catch glimpses of her and speculation about what she would do.

The right went CRAZY about this because she generated more headlines than anything they could muster. There was a ridiculous notion that her relationship with Kelce was fake, and was used for the sole purpose of helping Biden's re-election somehow.

And then came this election cycle.  Her endorsement of a candidate has value due to her influence. In 2020, she simply tweeted a picture of her baking cookies endorsing Biden, and voter registrations surged and Swifties turned out to vote for him.

The orange menace tried to leverage this by first telling everyone that of course she would support his candidacy because he somehow helped her career and she owed him.   Then he used social media to post a fake picture of her endorsing him, and also had some pics of fake Swifties endorsing him.

She sued of course. And herself posted some things that real Swifties saw as endorsing Harris.

Swifties held a fundraiser for Harris that was (to quote the menace) huuuuuuuuge. And while she has not specifically endorsed Kamala, its clear where she stands...

Flash forward to the beginning of the football season. Someone posts a "leaked memo" that Swift is not allowed at Chiefs games this year.  It gets picked up by Fox News, and other conservative outlets, and they run with it.  Only, its a fake.

Then, there's buzz about a "dissolution agreement" between her and Kelce that likewise gets posted to social media.  Surely they are going to break up!  And by extension, the relationship was not real, and was just to help the democrats. And (as you probably guessed) it too, was a fake.

I suppose for both it was some effort to make her seem less genuine or besmirch her  and maybe to somehow make her endorsement for Kamala a little less impactful?

There are pictures of Swift in Kelce in public in various locations.  They sure put a lot of effort into faking it, with no return on that for them, didn't they? 

And naturally, there she was at the opening game for the Chiefs.

The whole thing is just silly.  But worth noting.

Disney wants wrongful death suit thrown out…

Because they signed up for Disney+ and bought tickets through the corporate website and therefore agreed to arbitration in the future.

What has this world come to?

https://www.cnn.com/2024/08/14/business/disney-plus-wrongful-death-lawsuit/index.html

Guy tries to get into Disney World with 1978 ticket…

This is one of the things that's fun about Disney. Almost always, they'll honor an unused park admission at whatever price you might have paid for it.

I have seen an exception here and there, but in those cases it's about the type of ticket, and they have given some fair market value for it, and you pay the (small) difference. So you're still coming out ahead in a way.

https://www.upworthy.com/man-uses-1978-ticket-at-disney-world-rp3

Club 33 and a Disney obsession

This is a bit of a peculiar story. TL;DR a couple had access to club 33 ("their happy place" revoked) for public intoxication. They sued to get back in, and lost. 

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2024-09-04/disney-obsessed-couple-loses-lawsuit-to-get-back-into-exclusive-club-33

El Presidente

Reading about Venezuela's Maduro and his assertion that Christmas will now be celebrated in October, I am distinctly reminded of this scene from Woody Allen's Bananas where the freedom leader immediately became a dictator...

Cape Cod offers a harbinger of America’s economic future

This is a perspective on where we're headed from a wealth and housing point of view. 

It's long form, but worth the read. And it turns out this is happening in many places, including south Florida. 

Cape Cod offers a harbinger of America's economic future - The Atlantic

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2024/08/provincetown-most-american-economy/679515/

A lesson in customer service.

It’s all about the U

I think the university of Florida should put a permanent marker to remind them of the beat down they had on Saturday. 

Most points allowed in an opener. Ever. That's 117 years. 

Owned, baby.