Meanderings, 2 July 2022
We’re back from our Northern Seminary tour of Turkey and Greece. What a wonderful time we had! And, a happy July 4th to you!
Photo by Antonio Gabola on Unsplash
CASCADE TOWNSHIP, Mich. (WOOD) — Ten thousand dollars to miss an airline flight?
That’s what some passengers flying Delta Airlines out of the Gerald R. Ford International Airport say they were offered earlier this week.
“I think the airlines are doing everything they can to make it a good experience. But $10,000 is a lot,” said passenger Jason Aten.
Aten and his family are currently enjoying their Alaskan adventure. But just getting there was also an adventure.
It started when he and his family were sitting on the tarmac at the Ford Airport Monday, set to take off for their connecting fight in Minneapolis.
“They came on the PA system and said that they were looking for volunteers and that they were willing to pay $10,000, which everyone assumed they’d heard it wrong,” said Aten.
Not a travel voucher — $10,000 on a Visa gift card or right into your wallet if you had Apple Pay.
It may be easy to assume Aten took the money and got off the plane. But it wasn’t that easy for the Inc. Magazine tech writer, who wrote about the experience in a recent column.
Four adults and four children were in their traveling party.
“I know $10,000 seems like a lot of money, but you have to realize that it doesn’t really sink in that this is really what they were offering and second of all, try to do the math and now they’re going to get everybody to (their destination),” said Aten.
“I’ve taken “bumps,” as they call it, plenty of times. But usually, that’s for a couple of hundred dollars, right?“ Aten said.
Travel agents say while they haven’t heard of that large of an offer to bump either, it shouldn’t come as a surprise. Airline delays have become common.
Experts say the pandemic basically shut down the airline industry. Airlines ended up cutting staff, including offering pilots early retirement.
Now that the public is flying again, there just isn’t enough staff to keep up with demand. But the airlines also want to keep customers happy. So, big incentives to make room on planes have become more common.
Is this about better or more TV time? SMcK: this may calm Bill Walton down. He calls the Pac-10 the “conference of champions.” What now, Bill?
USC and UCLA, two of the Pac-12's flagship programs, were notified Thursday night that their application to join the Big Ten has been accepted.
The schools will begin play in the conference in 2024.
The Big Ten said in a statement that the vote was unanimous when conference presidents and chancellors met on the addition of the two schools on Thursday evening.
"The unanimous vote today signifies the deep respect and welcoming culture our entire conference has for the University of Southern California, under the leadership of President Carol Folt, and the University of California, Los Angeles, under the leadership of Chancellor Gene Block," Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren said.
UCLA athletic director Martin Jarmond wrote in a text to ESPN: "College athletics is changing, and UCLA has always led in times of change. For the sake of our student-athletes, and for preserving the legacy of Bruin excellence, we cannot afford to stand still."
USC athletic director Mike Bohn called the Big Ten "the best home for USC and Trojan athletics as we move into the new world of collegiate sports."
"We are excited that our values align with the league's member institutions," Bohn said in a statement. "We also will benefit from the stability and strength of the conference; the athletic caliber of Big Ten institutions; the increased visibility, exposure, and resources the conference will bring our student-athletes and programs; and the ability to expand engagement with our passionate alumni nationwide."
A source told ESPN that the exploration of finances and what it would take to make the move has been going on for weeks. While finances are playing a big role in the move, competitiveness, brand and the overall landscape of the future of the sport have played a bigger role.
"USC and UCLA have to make the decisions to position them best for the long term," a source familiar with the move told ESPN. "The future is so uncertain we need to be operating from a position of strength."
The Pac-12 released a statement later Thursday saying it was "extremely surprised and disappointed" by the news of UCLA and USC leaving.
This could be an e-book and is worth your reading.
June 21 marks the first day of summer — the perfect season to cool off in the water, but a nationwide lifeguard shortage is forcing many families to make alternate plans.
According to the American Lifeguard Association, the issue is affecting about a third of the country’s public pools — some are even staying closed for good or opening with limited hours.So, what’s to blame?
First, it was the pandemic when lifeguard certification classes were canceled. That’s when lifeguards found new and in some cases higher-paying jobs.
But that’s not the case for Robin Borlandoe. She was a lifeguard when she was 16. Now she’s a 70-year-old Philadelphia grandmother coming out of retirement to help with the lifeguard shortage.
She said pools are important for cities across the nation so children have somewhere to go during the summer.
“Philadelphia and most cities because of what’s happening in these cities, these kids have nowhere to go to, especially in those areas where the pools are not going to be opening. So because of the death rate, the gun violence and just to have something to do,” Borlandoe explained.
There are 16 lifeguards over the age of 60 in Philadelphia, and Borlandoe said no matter how old you are it’s not too late to make a difference.
“What is 70? Is the new, what 40 or 50? So if they think of it like that, then they can come on out. Do something also for your community instead of just sitting. Some people like retirement; some people don’t. They want something to do and it’s a great health benefit. It just moves your body,” Borlandoe said.
To sleep together or not to sleep together? The Scandinavian approach.
Many couples who share a bed sleep great together. In fact, some recent research from Europe found that bed-sharing partners tend to enjoy significantly improved sleep, namely longer and more stable REM sleep (essential for things like learning and emotional processing). But for countless others, sleeping in the same bed with their significant other can be tough. Anyone with a sleep partner knows that snoring, tossing and turning, blanket-hogging, and insomnia on one or both sides of the bed can result in trouble falling and staying asleep. And ultimately this can take a serious toll on both the relationship and sleep (and by extension their overall physical and mental health).
Sure, these underslept and frustrated couples could consider dabbling in a sleep divorce—the practical solution of sleeping in separate spaces for the sake of adequate rest and sanity. But there might be another way to improve shut-eye without splitting off into different rooms every night: the Scandinavian Sleep Method. Here's how this simple sleep style works, plus the pros and cons of giving it a try, according to sleep experts.
Hailed for its purported sleep benefits, the Scandinavian sleep method is a popular practice originating from Scandinavian countries like Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, and is also common in other parts of Europe, such as Germany and Iceland. The basic concept: Partners sleep in the same bed together, but don't share one, individual duvet or comforter. Instead, each gets his or her own blanket. Genius, right? (And if you're really serious about trying this strategy, you'll forgo a top sheet, too, like many Scandinavians do—though that's a hot-button debate for folks here in the U.S.)
So, why does having separate duvets seem to be an effective trick? Studies have found that sleeping in the same bed with the same comforter as your partner can actually result in 30 percent more interrupted sleep. And it's pretty telling that Scandinavian countries tend to rank as some of the highest in terms of sleep quality. For example, Denmark, Norway, and Sweden rank in third, fourth, and sixth place for sleep and overall quality of life, according to a Lifestyle Index by Sleep Junkie, whereas the U.S. ranks 87th in the lineup of countries with a balanced lifestyle.
We have some students who might make the trek to NYC to get in on this offer:
(CNN)New Yorkers of all ages can now treat their shelves to a new book.
The New York Public Library (NYPL) has announced that it will give away 500,000 books to city residents to keep as part of its "Summer at the Library Program." Its goal is to help kids, teens and adults build their home libraries, as well as keep youth productive through the summer break.
The books are available at any of the library's 92 locations in Manhattan, the Bronx and Staten Island. Some locations will even offer Spanish, Chinese, and large print titles.
The morning after the mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas, the Federalist published an op-ed with the headline “Tragedies Like the Texas Shooting Make a Somber Case for Homeschooling.”
In the essay, the author immediately dismissed calls for gun control as petty and insincere, offering home-schooling as the true solution to keep children safe. “It is clear now from the long list of school shootings in recent years that families can’t trust government schools, in particular, to bring their children or teachers home safely at the end of the day,” the author wrote.
On first blush, the idea is somewhat understandable or, at least, relatable; it’s natural for parents to look for ways to protect their children. But then the author added, “The same institutions that punish students for ‘misgendering’ people and hide curriculum from parents are simply not equipped to safeguard your children from harm.”
And the “parental rights” political agenda emerged.
Many politically powerful conservatives promote home-schooling as a way to undercut or weaken the influence of public schools, and to shield their children from the liberalism they believe public schools foster. The Federalist was just one of a number of conservative voices calling for home-schooling in the wake of the Uvalde tragedy. (And there were plenty of news stories about parents who were considering it.)
But the groundwork of the movement was laid by conservative Christians who have been working for years to siphon power from public schools, pushing both home-schooling and parental rights legislation at the state and federal level. It’s just that finally, their ideas are becoming mainstream.
Not the way to end that NYC cruise:
Dozens of people were involved in a violent brawl on a Carnival Magic Cruise ship early Tuesday morning, causing the U.S. Coast Guard to step in.
Shortly before the Carnival Magic was expected to arrive in the New York-New Jersey area, the fight broke out on the ship’s dance floor around 5:20 a.m., according to NewsNation local affiliate PIX11. Police say the fight began between two people on the dance floor, then escalated as others quickly joined in.
By the time the brawl was broken up, there had been anywhere from 40 to 60 people involved. Cruise officials called the U.S. Coast Guard for an escort back to the dock. New York Police Department officers and paramedics were there when the ship arrived.
Passengers who witnessed the fight say it happened over cheating allegations. Theresa James, a travel agent, told Fox News that beer bottles were smashed and a woman may have been cut.