Bitchin Dave's Newsletter - September 8th
The NFL season kicks off this week, and as we look ahead, I see the bottom few teams are there once again, and just laughable at this point. Perhaps a relegation system - whereby teams have to actually try in order to stay in the topmost league - would be helpful.
The Miami Dolphins are one of these teams. Yeah, they were the only team to ever go undefeated, had the winningest coach, had arguably the best pure passer in the game... and yet, since 2000, they have basically sucked.
In the 26 years this century, the dolphins have had two owners, 12 head coaches, 27 players start at QB (soon to be 28), and two major scandals (the hazing incident that divided people in weird ways, and the ongoing racial accusations by the coach that appears headed for trial) - plus assorted less-prominent ones (offering a contract to a new head coach while you still have one, focusing on revenue at the stadium, etc)
And of course they have only made the playoffs in 6 of those seasons, and have not won a single playoff game in that span.
It’s epic futility!
Last week, the new coach said that success won’t be defined by winning. Which suggests losing is in the future. Enjoy it fans, if you’re still interested! Oh, and pay full price for the dreadful experience!
You have a generation (and then some) who have had nothing to root for locally. This team used to rule the town and dominate conversations. And now, few seem to care. And that will only get worse.
The owner doesn't seem to mind, because he's making money in any case - all based on "hope" for the future. There's always next year!
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Oh the drama! I’m sure some shade will be thrown by Chapek!
For the uninitiated, Bob Chapek had worked his way through the ranks at Disney. CEO Bob Iger, after years of hemming and hawing about succession planning that saw some tremendous candidates to be Disney's next CEO leave the company, decided Chapek was going to be the next guy.
Arguably Chapek was not up to the job. To be fair, he took the reins at the height of the pandemic. But he did alienate himself to very many people with his style, and with some comments he made.
So the board removed Chapek after just a few months, and put Iger back in the job.
While it certainly bruised his ego, Chapek got paid well for his run as CEO. And surely, he’ll continue to use that “stigma” to his advantage through his career.
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Back in 2012, there was an invasive plant moving through Florida. Several prominent research studies were undertaken, the most notable being one at the University of Florida.
The researchers tested whether a tiny leaf-eating beetle (the Lilioceris cheni) could help control air potato, a vigorous vine capable of smothering native vegetation, without disturbing the other foliage.
And then they worked with a group of high school students in Broward county who were studying environmental science; they had them release some beetles into the wild.
The students released just 16 beetles into the Long Key Natural Area and Nature Centre in Davie, but they multiplied into the thousands and almost completely defoliated the air potato vines in the release area.
Using that success, the scientists at UF released thousands more of the beetles, and the air potato was mostly eradicated over the next decade.
You can read more about all of this in the attached links, but here's a key takeaway:
Rather than relying solely on repeated chemical or physical removal, scientists were using specialised insects to exploit different vulnerabilities in the plant’s growth and reproduction.
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The fact that voyager 1 is still active (and scientists keep finding innovative ways to keep it so, from a great distance) is remarkable.
But don’t sleep on just how vast the universe is! Voyager launched in 1977, nearly 50 years ago, and it is traveling at about 17 km/s (or roughly 40,000 miles per hour). It's currently about 16 billion miles from Earth (yes, with a "B", or about 170 times the distance to the sun)! And yet, it has barely moved in cosmic terms. That’s amazing.
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This is a good read. A student journalist looked into the Epstein files and found the name of a local woman. The editorial staff decided to publish. The woman threatened to sue … and everyone kind of freaked out. Because of course they did.
The student reporter was the most rational and mature person in the room. Everyone else was acting essentially like a child.
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This is pretty cool. In 1966, after filming Mutiny on the Bounty in Polynesia, Marlon Brando purchased an island and turned it into a wildlife sanctuary.
And what do you know? A large number of turtle hatchlings are born there each year.
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The summary of the attached article is that Panda Express is privately owned. They are touting that they help employees to become homeowners. Sounds nice, right?
The company has about 55,000 employees - most of which are hourly people making a little above minimum wage. So for the most part, home ownership is out of reach for them.
There are some managers in the ranks, and they start at $65k, while the higher level managers can make as much as $200k. But do the people at the higher end need the help?
If you read a little about the actual "help," what you find is that they are probably overselling it. As a part of the general company benefits package, they offer services which help employees understand what it takes to buy a house and suggest ways to save money for a down payment and how to afford monthly payments. I would suggest it's more about financial literacy, in a way.
Further, it strikes me that this kind of thing really should be in *every* company’s benefits package. It’s nice, but nothing special, really.
And also, it’s a sad statement of where we are that chicken from a mall food court is an industry this large (they made $7 billion last year!) - and the owners just rake in that money.
To be a little fair, the company does run a children’s charity. But it’s not funded by the company or its owners, as I understand it. Rather, they ask customers to “round up” and that money goes to the charity.
So ... maybe the owners aren't doing much good overall, really…
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Bonus: Today marks the 60th anniversary of the premier of Star Trek on our TV screens. Kirk and Spock set out on a 5-year mission that has managed to last for much longer.
Now is a great time to find a favorite episode or movie on streaming and watch it.
Boldly Go!
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