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.