The End Of MLB (Major League Baseball)?

 Around December of this year....the current players/owners contract ends.

The owners....over the past decade....have come to a reality....around a dozen clubs are anchored down  and not in a position to get quality players.  At the top level....there's around ten clubs who have the cash flow to hire top-level players. In the middle....around eight clubs have enough cash flow....to occasionally challenge top clubs.

The owners have wised-up....they want a pay-cap. The players? They refuse to consider the idea.

So I'll just say it....by early 2027....a strike is likely to occur, and I  doubt that any games are played in 2027.

By the summer of 2027.....with no 'rescue' in sight....some folks start talking of a rival-league....eight teams....mostly in the south.  

How To Fix The California Count-The-Votes Problem?

 Two fixes:

1.  Mandate all non-voting (absentee/mail-in) ballots to be done and dropped off four weeks prior to election day....guarded and protected by Nat'l Guardsmen with machine-guns.

2.  Bring in Florida vote-counters....to count the California ballots.

Divert Hit Piece?

I sat this AM....reading a WaPo piece....troubling news....the Trump administration is diverting at least $90 million from entry fees to national parks to fund a $1.6 million fireworks display and $76 million to repair fountains in the  DC area....of which the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool is such an asset.

The piece....carried on....like a hit-piece....against Trump.

So I went Grok  and asked....what are the other facts?

National Park Service policy (for over 20 years) allows up to 20-perecent of entrance fees for system-wide projects rather than keeping all revenue at the collecting park.

This D.C. monuments stuff?   Well....they are under the Nat'l Park system, and in a mess with $24 billion in deferred maintenance backlog.

So?  It's all legit.

WaPo missing half of the story?  More or less.

Stargate Drama

 So...for about a year....Amazon (who owns the rights to the Stargate series).....had a crew of writers working on season one of a 'reboot'. In the past week....Amazon bosses met...discussed the matter, and decided that whatever the writers were attempting.....would ONLY old normal fans to view it...NOT new fans. So the 'reboot' was cancelled.

All hell broke loose after this announcement

Five observations:

1.  It's not clear what Amazon executives expected.  Maybe they wanted BOLD drama.  Maybe they wanted a all-female team.  Maybe half the team had to be gay or trans. Maybe the bad guys had to resemble Trump in some way.

2.  Maybe the Stargate had to be in some Russian bunker instead of being in Cheyenne Mountain.

3. Is it possible that none of the Amazon executives have ever  watched the series?

4. Maybe the Hammond-character has to be trans?

5.   Maybe Amazon would be better off selling this project to Paramount?

Talking Animals

 I  sat yesterday....reading this short article.

So....what the PhD guys/scientists say....AI has decoded some communication patterns in mice, dolphins, apes, birds, whales, & cuttlefish....where they think....it could eventually lead to humans communicating directly with animals.

In six months or a year?  No....I seriously doubt it.  It's probably five to ten years away...where a 500-word AI-system could convey what 'Rufus' (your Border Collie) is complaining about. 

It may not be a pleasant conversation. Rufus might be demanding twelve-hour walks....wanting wider menu selection....wants bottled-water....and wants a $700 mattress.

Cows chatting? Well....they may ask what happen to 'Larry', 'Erwin' and 'Dale'.....they seemed to have been taken somewhere.

I'm not buying into this chatter being a good thing.