This is an interesting look at 6 of the revolutionary war veterans who sat for a photo (a new invention!) and told their story to an author.
And intriguing that this happened during the civil war.
Tuesday, October 13, 2026
Super Bowl prediction is shaping up
At week 5, we see the teams that are emerging with the highest point differential.
In a few weeks, some of these teams will differentiate themselves.
But as of right now, the 49ers, jaguars, Vikings, and chiefs are standouts.
Monday, October 12, 2026
Disney Springs Enforces Dress Code Ban And Then Apologizes After Telling Guests To Turn Their Logos Inside Out
There was this weird - and poorly written! - story last week about a dress code enforcement issue at Disney springs.
Apparently, there was some kind of meeting of police officers from around the state at a local hotel. And some wandered over to Disney springs wearing polos with their police department name on it.
And Disney police told them they couldn’t enter, unless they took off their polos, or turned them so that the logo couldn’t be seen.
Their rationale was that a group of officers might cause some kind of panic among the guests.
Cue the stupidity. Dumb rhetoric and idiots scoring imaginary points for their cause.
Then the Lieutenant governor for Florida steps in, meets with Disney (and tells them they are just wrong)..
And Disney apologizes and tells the police they are welcome.
Sheesh. What a strange world we live in.
Vikings Reached North America 500 Years Before Columbus, Archaeology Confirms - GreekReporter.com
Would you look at that? We can prove that Vikings were in North America almost 500 years before Columbus sailed west as a means to get to Asia … and wound up in the West Indies (not the content we call North America).
Canadian YouTuber builds 'Flock-like' camera to exclusively track police vehicles, gets a visit from police — officers visit his home to express privacy concerns | Tom's Hardware
Funny how when cameras are turned on the police, rather than the public at large, the police take exception and feel “at risk”…
Turnabout, as they say, is fair play.
But they have the supposed authority, and therefore control the conversation.
Sunday, October 11, 2026
How did Roman aqueducts get water to go uphill? | Live Science
I love reading about how to engineer things. This is an example where the Romans used siphons to get water to flow uphill
It’s cool and worth a read.
https://fortune.com/article/mackenzie-scott-alone-accounted-for-one-third-of-americas-19-2-billion-in-megagifts-last-year/
The article is behind a paywall, but even the headline is worth noting. McKenzie Scott gave away 19.2 billion (and yet remained a billionaire!) and that was 1/3 of the total that billionaires gave to charities.
C’mon über wealthy! You can do better. And remain a billionaire.
Stop hoarding the money and wasting it on stupid shit. How about helping to build something better?
A French company raised 5,184 solar panels 16 feet over a Normandy dairy pasture, and when the open field nearby dried out in July, the grass underneath stayed green and on hot days the cows in their shade grazed until noon while the herd in the sun headed in at 9:30
Here’s another in the list of benefits of solar panels. They protected the fields underneath and gave cows a place to graze that was out of the sun.
RIP Margaret Hamilton, whose code saved the Apollo 11 Moon landing - Ars Technica
Sadly, we lost a true pioneer in the field of software development. And a pioneer who literally saved the Apollo 12 mission with her calculations.
The fact that she was a woman is icing on that cake in a way….
Friday, October 9, 2026
How Do Ocean Buoys Stay In Place In Deep Water?
This is kind of an interesting (though brief) look at how navigational buoys stay in place. It’s simple, yet takes some engineering.
Monday, October 5, 2026
A collection of liars
As I have noted previously, the political ads on tv are all just hokum. Complete and utter lies and misrepresentations to sway the gullible. (Though I do wonder how many among us are as yet undecided?)
This guys platform will cost taxpayers a gazillion dollars! We can’t afford that!
This woman is a socialist. She’ll empty prisons and defund the police and the military! You have to choose between socialism and freedom!
What the actual …?
But the one that really struck me was Byron Donalds who is running for governor in Florida. He has an ad where his wife does most of the talking and he just plays along with an “awe shucks” vibe. The critical thing to notice is that she says they were poor and working two jobs just to get by!
And then I stumbled onto this older interview where he specifically says the job situation is great and that no one makes the federal minimum of $7.25. And blah, blah, blah.
Right. So you just say whatever and hope people don’t notice or don’t care. Because people are gullible.
I also have to ask - though of course it doesn’t much matter because everything is fiction - how he went from “dirt poor” to “successful” and hobnobbing with the elite.
I guess he’s another one of those politicians who got his, and "who cares?" about everyone else.
Sunday, October 4, 2026
David Rivera, former congressman, gets 10 years in prison
Oh the hubris. Sure, sure, get elected to Congress to serve the people and uphold the constitution.
All the while, working for the Venezuelan government to promote their interests.
And if you think he’s the only one engaged in such shady nonsense, I have a bridge to sell you in Brooklyn….
Supreme Court to weigh energy companies' bid to end Boulder climate-change lawsuit - CBS News
Reading about this lawsuit reminds us of just how deep the energy companies tentacles go… the main question to the court is whether federal law will even allow this suit to proceed.
Even though the underlying question of whether the energy sector is doing harm. Because the energy company is making money and has federal protections. Environment and people be damned.
Inside the study for a remedy to fight Congo's deadliest Ebola outbreak | PBS News
Ebola gets lost in the news cycle, but it is still very much a threat to humanity at large.
Here’s an article that looks at a health study, which includes a drug to prevent the spread of the infection.
It’s an interesting look behind the scenes that’s worth a few minutes of your time.
'Like I didn't exist': Former Disney CEO explains why he doesn't visit the theme parks anymore
Chapek continues to go scorched earth about his time at CEO.
But … he comes off as a petulant child, and as far as I can tell, there’s little-to-no sympathy for his plight.
You took the role. The deck was stacked however it was stacked. You failed and they replaced you. Feel humiliated? Welcome to the real world. Rank-and-file employees at Disney - and really every company - get humiliated all the time because they forgot to use the right font, or didn’t realize their tps report had a new cover page.
Sure you were in a more high profile position. But you were compensated well. And no one is telling you that you can’t do something. You’re just choosing not too.
Wednesday, September 30, 2026
New Florida’s driver’s license features gator, Space Shuttle, ‘Let Us Alone’ motto – NBC 6 South Florida
Sure, the license represents Florida through the imagery… and of course it has a racist overtone.
The phrase "Let Us Alone" appeared on a Florida state flag adopted in 1845, symbolizing the state's desire for sovereignty and to be left undisturbed, particularly concerning issues like slavery.
Historical Context
Florida Statehood: The "Let Us Alone" flag was adopted when Florida became a state in 1845, reflecting a period of significant political tension leading up to the Civil War.
Sovereignty and States' Rights: the phrase conveyed a message of independence and states' rights. The flag's motto articulated Florida's wish to manage its internal affairs without federal interference.
Slavery Debate: The phrase was used by Southern states during this era to express their stance on slavery, indicating their desire for the federal government to not interfere with their right to own slaves.
Monday, September 28, 2026
Watch "Your Monthly Dose of Good News | September" on YouTube
Sometimes it's nice to hear some good news. Here are some articles that another kind soul collected:
Saturday, September 26, 2026
When Mariner 4 sent back the first close-up of Mars in 1965, the printer was too slow for the engineers waiting on it, so they pinned the raw numbers to a wall and coloured them in with pastels bought from an art shop down the road
The thing I love about this story is how the engineers came up with a solution to a seemingly trivial problem: how do you keep up with data being sent back from space in a low tech way?
The answer was to simply write down things and pin them onto the wall and color them.
Sometimes a simple problem requires a simple solution.
Amerigo Vespucci: Biography, Explorer, New World
Here is the biography of the man for whom the United States of America is named.
But … there’s just a little more to the story. He Vespucci is credited with having found Brazil on his travels, and the land was named America in his honor.
But when it came to making a map some years later, in the later part of the 1500s, the Mercator map (you know, the one that distorts some areas in favor of others for various reasons), called both the South American continent *and* the North American continent (which had been “discovered” by Columbus a few decades before) “America”
And more about the Mercator map:
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