Disney doing some good in nature

Disney's Sea Turtle Conservation Inspires the Next Generation

This is a cool story about how Disney is using sea turtle nesting into a means to study these amazing creatures, and inspire the youth by seeing conservation in action.  And in a fun way, no less.

https://disneyparksblog.com/ase/disneys-sea-turtle-conservation-inspires-the-next-generation/

Daylight savings time

In the book I read about Benjamin Franklin, there was a snippet about how he became fascinated by a candle that didn't produce smoke. 

It stoked his imagination, and being a thinker and a scientist, he considered how important candles were to life. Once it got to be dark, you had to light one.  And of the course of an evening, a week, a month, or a year, he ran through many candles.

And so he wrote a short piece about how if there was more daylight, then the need for candles would be reduced.  He did a little math and determined that Parisians could save millions of French Livre every year if they had an hour of extra daylight, and didn't have to buy candles.

That was pure Franklin magic.  He was good at dissecting a topic and giving a point of view that was well reasoned and proffered an idea.  He was quite good at that. And that's why "Doctor Franklin" was si beloved.

The story itself went mostly unnoticed.

That is until 1916, when the Great War started, and Europe was looking for ways to focus attention and cut some costs.  And so they turned to Franklins work, and twisted a little.  It would be good for their war effort... and thus began a path of daylight savings time.  Savings more or less being about saving money on candles, and oil in the evenings.

Disney World to re-open the magic of Disney animation... sort of

When the Disney/MGM studios opened back in 1989, it was all about the behind the scenes magic of movie making.

Among the many interactive exhibits was a look into Disney's animation process.  There was a short film featuring Robin Williams and Walter Cronkite, and a gallery where you could watch people animating Disney cartoons in a very "old school" sort of way.  Artists sat at desks and hand drew the images, and then they were painted.  

Two things happened that led to the closure of this area: more artists were hired in far off lands, and technology started to creep into the animation process.  For a time, Disney kept this area open a memento to a bygone era, and they allowed young artists to try their hand at simple drawings.

Then, Disney bought out Star Wars, and decided to reimagine the space into the "launch bay" to introduce the franchise to what had become Disney's Hollywood Studios.  

And today, Disney announced that the launch bay would be going away and an old - new attraction would be brought back into the space.  Yep, they are bringing back some kind of animation studio experience to the space.  I have no doubt it will be cute, but given how the art of animation devolved, and how lackluster the launch bay was, and how animation is all created on computer this will probably be a bit of a nothing.

But we'll have to wait until 2026 to reach that pinnacle of disappointment.

https://www.flcourier.com/lifestyle/new-attraction-magic-of-disney-animation-opens-at-disney-s-hollywood-studios/article_83918167-a3ab-481a-bd69-ceff5b4c0841.html

Unprecedented sargassum surge threatens tourism in the Caribbean

More on the scourge that is sargassum 

https://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2025/07/23/caribbean-sargassum-surge-threatens-tourism-2025/9771753295062/

Using kids as pawns.

Venezuelan Little League team denied travel visas to U.S. for World Series

The Cacique Mara Little League team from Maracaibo, Venezuela, was "unfortunately unable to obtain the appropriate visas," Little League International said in a statement, adding that the decision was "extremely disappointing, especially to these young athletes."

Venezuela is one of several countries whose nationals are restricted or limited from travel into the U.S. under the presidential proclamation signed by President Donald Trump in June. Neither the White House nor the State Department immediately responded to an overnight request for comment.

Where there’s smoke…

There is something so bizarre about this Epstein situation.

We're being misdirected and gaslit. There's a reason that Teflon Don can't just make this one go away, like he has everything else. 

Why is this the one thing that maga seems to not want to let go?

To my totally untrained eye I see one of three options. 

1. there's something they're trying to pull behind the scenes so they leave this as the media focus.  Of course the problem here is that they don't usually try and hide things. Look at all the shnizzle that's going down and no one tries to misdirect on any of it. And besides, they keep tossing more garbage to try and bury *this* story for some reason.

2. this is a sort of coup. Donald was the means to the end to getting people into power and executing on the project 2025 scam. Remember that there is a story about the battle between Vance and his tech guys vs Trump and his nonsense? 

It's at least possible that Trump has outlived his usefulness to everyone, and maybe they'll use this as a means to unload Trump and then pin things on him … and get Vance, who they actually would prefer.

I have heard Europe is doing more reporting on how they always knew Trump was a pedophile and Russia is leaking new info on it … but the US media isn't biting.

And the undertone is that Trump is being setup.

I don't know if this is true, but I can read European articles and translate as needed. I leave this as a pending *possibility*

Of course 3. is that it's all just plain stupidity. And maybe pedophilia is a line too far for many people. And this is where we are at. 

Stay tuned. Eventually we'll know more. 

Well. That sucks. Media just became less “free”

A while ago, skydance media made a bid to buy paramount, which would include all of its holdings, movie library, CBS, and all other streaming. 

The FCC under Biden said "no thanks," because this would create a huge problem in terms of freedom of the press and create a sort of monopoly. 

But, David Ellison - ceo of skydance - is a huuuge supporter of Trumps, and shortly after Trump got elected, Ellison managed to convince CBS to apologize to Trump for whatever they said that aggrieved him, and got Colbert fired, essentially for insubordination. 

And then Trumps FCC approved the merger, making Ellison the biggest media mogul. And now he can control what paramount delivers. Which is bad for all of us. 

At least for now, we can take solace in the fact that over the air media, streaming "news" and such are less important to most people, as options pop up on the Internet all the time. 

*for now is noted because the Feds want very badly to restrict what we can access on the internet, and to track us if we're seeing things they don't approve of. And don't sleep on the fact that "oracle wants to buy TikTok" because David's father, Larry, was the ceo of oracle and still has a lot of pull there. So expect that platform to change somewhat quietly, too. 

https://slate.com/technology/2025/07/larry-ellison-donald-trump-paramount-skydance-merger.html

Trump is Wrecking our Travel Industry

Trump's impact on attendance at the men's World Cup in 2026 (cohosted with Mexico and Canada) and the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles will likely be devastating. Earlier this month, 90 civil society groups implored FIFA to use its influence with Trump "to push the Trump administration to guarantee the rights of millions of football fans looking to attend the World Cup next summer." (Even if he does, why would anybody trust a Trump "guarantee"?)

If foreigners run the risk of being barred entry, hassled, detained, or deported (including to third countries where they have no attachment) hundreds of thousands—if not millions—of fans may stay away. Trump's travel bans (which by then may be expanded to more countries) could be used to prevent fans, players, team officials, and others from entering the games.

https://contrarian.substack.com/p/trump-is-wrecking-our-travel-industry?open=false

drinking water out of thin air

It may seem obvious, but there is a lot of water vapor in the air, and until this point it was only theoretically possible to collect it in a simple and cost effective way. 

But now, a group of engineers have developed a graphene-calcium composite that can absorb clean water from the atmosphere, which can be consumed. 

And the great part is that it is cheap and reusable. Meaning that many more people could have access to clean water. 

New nanomaterial pulls drinking water straight out of thin air


https://interestingengineering.com/innovation/water-from-air-graphene-calcium-aerogel

Meet the sargassum belt, a 5,000-mile-long snake of seaweed circling Florida

While visiting the island of St Kitts, I was talking with some locals about the sargassum that was collecting along the shore on the Atlantic side. There was quite a lot of it, and it smelled. 

The questions were: why is so much of it collecting? And does it have anything to do with pollution?

And the answer is that it is likely the result of human habits. Here's an article from 2023 that sums it up pretty well. 

What is sargassum? Here's why seaweed is piling up along Florida beaches : NPR


https://www.npr.org/2023/03/15/1163385168/sargassum-seaweed-florida-mexico-beaches

A possible replacement for plastic: Spinning bacteria create improved cellulose

Here's a look at bacterial cellulose - a sustainable material that breaks down easily - being used to shape containers. 

And these containers could replaces plastics. I do love scientific advances. 

https://phys.org/news/2025-07-plastic-bacteria-cellulose.html

Reducing pesticide

Engineers at MIT observed there has been a large increase in the amount of pesticide in use around the world. So they set out to try and see if they could reduce the impact. 

The developed a method of mixing water and soybean oil with the pesticide, so it would stick to the leaves of plants. 

The net result is better coverage, with less pesticide used. It's better for the environment. Better for farmers. Better for the plants (and planet). And the kicker is that it actually saves the agricultural industry billions of dollars because they have to buy lest pesticide. 

Technology developed by MIT engineers makes pesticides stick to plant leaves | MIT News | Massachusetts Institute of Technology


https://news.mit.edu/2025/mit-engineers-develop-pesticides-stick-on-plant-leaves-0325

Summer vacation

I recently visited St Kitts & Nevis. It was interesting on so many levels - beyond just enjoying beaches in the West Indies. 

First, and foremost, Nevis is where Alexander Hamilton was born.  We did a brief tour, and his life there was a little complicated. His father was a wealthy plantation owner, who was married, and Alexander was born to a woman who many believe was a prostitute. 

In any case, he was a bastard raised in Charlestown.  He couldn't attend school because of that fact, and was tutored by a Jewish woman (there was a decent sized Jewish community there!).  Of course, he saw slavery first hand, and that was pointed out as an influence on his life. After his mother died at age 9, he left for NY.  It's really interesting how connected these islands are to the Americas. 

Second is about this being Charlestown. As it happens, the first colonists who made it to the Americas in the 1600s landed on the island, reprovisioned their ship, and continued on their voyage, eventually settling in Massachusetts. But because they found the island, and its land was fertile, it became a stopping point for the explorers, and at some point, they founded Charlestown and of course the British "defended themselves" against the native population. By exterminating them. 

The slave trade was big business. Nearly all of the slaves that made it to the colonies came through the West Indies. They were auctioned off in public squares, and sometimes made to work on the islands for the cash crops (sugar cane most notably) that were grown on the island. The current inhabitants of St Kitts & Nevis (like most islands here) are descendants of the enslaved. They are well educated and know the history of their islands. Even if - because it was once a British colony - they are not specifically taught about slavery and the Christopher Columbus story is prominent. It's weirdly ironic. And of course, the West Indies abolished slavery by law, 30 years before the United States became disunited and engaged in the civil war. 

St Kitts & Nevis rely heavily on tourism. It's the main industry today. Even though the temperature remains fairly consistent during the year, tourism is very seasonal with more people visiting during the winter months. So it's a struggle during the summer months for a lot of people, with limited income during the offseason. And, interestingly, it's taken them a lot of time to recover from COVID as well. A year of lost business means some things that used to be available simply aren't any more. 

And finally, a note about climate change. They say that "the poor" are affected first. And while these islands are not poor, per se, they don't have the same affluence as we have in the United States. And they see things first. There's a huge problem of sea level rise. There are downstream impacts from pollution. The weather is less predictable in some ways. And there are few answers. 

You can learn an amazing amount by visiting a place and paying attention to the reality that's around you, rather than just ignoring it and sitting on the beach.

Tennessee woman denied prenatal care for being unmarried

What manner of nonsense is this? You can deny care for stupid - and questionable - moral reasons? 

And the congressman has no obligation to listen to his constituents? This really is dystopian. 


https://nashvillebanner.com/2025/07/20/doctor-denies-pregnant-woman-care/

So fucking dumb

In an effort to rile up the stupid people, and help move away from the Epstein case, the orange menace decided it was time to dictate how sports franchises name themselves. 

He went on some weird screed about how the time to worry about names that insult native Americans has passed, and the Cleveland guardians should revert to "Indians," while the Washington commanders should revert to "Redsk*ns" or else he'll personally veto any stadium money from the federal government. 

The Cleveland team said in a statement they're happy with the name as it is. And that pretty much was it for them. For now anyway. 

The football team would (I would say "never" in the past, but these days the world is truly upside down)  be unlikely to change the name back because (as I've noted before) the copyright restrictions on the name and likeness that they used have been lifted. Anyone could profit from it, undercutting a prime source of revenue for the team. 

Aside: take a look at the reveal of the throwback uniform. Do take note of the fact that there is no mention of the name and they did not use the logo for this very reason.

And here is the guy who is in the highest office telling literally everyone - from private citizens to private companies - how to conduct themselves.  

Smithsonian Fights Back Against $85 Million Space Shuttle Kipnapping To Texas

The stupidity of craven people elected to "represent us" is on full display here. 

TL;DR the space shuttle discovery isn't owned by the federal government. The appropriated funds are about 1/4 of what it would take to move it. And the specially outfitted 747s that can move the shuttle have been retired for about 15 years. 


https://www.jalopnik.com/1916183/smithsonian-fights-back-against-space-shuttle-kidnapping/

America's scary fire truck shortage

A while ago, I posted a video about why fire trucks are so expensive. Here's more context on the topic. 

https://media.hubspot.com/americas-scary-fire-truck-shortage

Musk will ask Tesla shareholders to vote on bailout for Twitter/xAI

Wait. A billionaire who spent ostensibly his own money to buy a platform that is used for hate - and which is bleeding money - wants to ask the company where he serves as the CEO (poorly) to bail him out for his privately held company?

And what does the company get in return? Nothing I assume. 

Why not just spend your own damn money? You have it for gosh sakes. 

If the shareholders and board vote for this, rather than voting no confidence in him … then we are as stupid as it seems. 

https://electrek.co/2025/07/13/musk-will-ask-tesla-shareholders-to-vote-on-bailout-for-twitter-xai/

Schroedingers executive.

I mean he was "unfit to serve" according to pretty much everyone FIVE YEARS AGO. 

It's not like he got better. 

The absurdity amazes me sometimes

The federal government wants to cut, cut, cut!  They have cut programs big and small, all in a seeming effort to inflict the most "pain" on citizens, while mostly protecting the oligarchs.

And this budget bill proved just how silly all of this is, on almost every level.  Rafael Edward Cruz (I shan't call him "Ted" because that's a nickname, and that is simply unacceptable in this day and age) added a line item to said budget that moves the Space Shuttle Discovery from its home at the Air and Space Museum to the Johnson Space Center.  For no reason other than he thought it belongs in Texas.  But included in this line item was $85,000,000 to facilitate its move and to create a structure to house it.

Its just the usual stupidity from the people who we "elect to serve us" but instead just act like a bunch of imbeciles in it for themselves.

That Epstein report

I have the Epstein report and I’ll release it right away!  

Don’t worry, it will be available soon!

There never was a report.

T-rump channeled his inner Frank Drebin in order to keep people close to him (and likely himself) from salacious headlines that ultimately wouldn’t matter (remember when Al Franken resigned from the senate because at some point he made an inappropriate comment about a female reporter? Such simpler times.  Now you can literally do anything and it gets a yawn) 

And meanwhile, Elon opened that can of worms further. https://www.buzzfeed.com/alanavalko/elon-musk-reacts-epstein-memo-memes

RFK jr makes no sense

Make America healthy. Or not. But rail against everyone and let the worm in the brain control you. 

So freaking dumb. 


https://apnews.com/article/rfk-jr-ultraprocessed-foods-diet-maha-trump-018a808efcf059eadfab2f8fc93fad4d

Two thoughts on the flood in Texas

1. Cutting weather-related services and research into weather patterns in a changing climate is a fools errand and will lead us to nowhere good. 

And 2. This is the kind of thing you might have heard about in time past happening in an underdeveloped country. Having something like this happen here in our "great nation" is inexcusable.  

That's on brand...

France unveiled a mural called "The Statue of Liberty's Silent Protest," designed to illustrate the "shame" surrounding the recent immigration policies of the Trump administration. 

Images went viral (including here) and have been viewed (according to some estimates) by at least 20 million people.  

But the MAGA crowd thinks its insulting and there were more than a few comments about how France should be "thanking us for bailing them out in the second world war" ... which is somewhat disingenuous and omits the fact that our independence would not have been won if the French hadn't intervened and provided support for the revolution.

And for reference, the statue was gifted to the United Stated by France on July 4, 1884 to celebrate our independence, democracy, and our willing acceptance of others on our shores.

Dutch artist Judith de Leeuw took six days to complete the mural, which was painted on a building in Roubaix, France. This location was intentional due to Roubaix's large migrant population who live in extremely difficult circumstances. "The values that the statue once stood for — freedom, hope, the right to be yourself — have been lost for many," she said.

Soccer fans stuck between a (hard) rock and a hard (trip home) place.

Early this year, you had people storming the gates. And now you have people unable to get out of the stadium and easily get home. 

But, I'm guessing Stephen Ross (who owns the stadium) made me money in both cases. So who cares? 

Soccer fans stuck between Hard Rock Stadium and a ride home: 'I'll never go to another game, especially not here' - The Athletic


https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6460496/2025/06/30/club-world-cup-hard-rock-stadium-fans-experience/

Man rebuilds a B-17 bomber

This is kind of a fun story about a guy that bought a B-17 fuselage, that had been sitting in a field in Maine, way back in 1984. 

He has since spent the last 4 decades restoring it. 

There's a charm and a warmth to the story, and the embedded tv coverage is kind of a nice summary of it all. 

"Illinois man has spent 40 years rebuilding a WWII-era B-17 bomber" | Popular Science


https://www.popsci.com/technology/b-17-bomber-restoration/