Mini Board

Madeline Vega

Rusty or Trusty?

I would drive by this all the time and think it was unfortunate the bar didn't turn the "t" in "rusty" into the nail

Is It People?

Did they pick the name for this plant protein drink thinking it would be memorable? “In the year 2022, the cumulative effects of overpopulation, pollution and some apparent climate catastrophe have caused severe worldwide shortages of food, water and housing” to create the setting for Soylent Green (1973), according to wikipedia.org. The company in the movie gets its name from soy and lentils, but the current soylent.com says nothing about lentils... or people or the sea plankton everyone was supposed to be the protein supply before they found it was actually people.

Every time I see the ad, I have the same look as this guy they stopped in Times Square: Uh, no thanks. —MV

Into the Stream

One of the smartest moves by any company during this crisis has been from Disney. No one thought Disney+ would replace ticket sales, but the streaming service is giving families the escape they need. Onward, which had been the No. 1 movie in America after its March 2 theatrical release, moved to digital sales March 20 and began streaming for Disney+ members on April 3. Frozen 2, originally set to hit Disney+ in May, became available for all members on March 14. Rather than hold onto content to protect the bottom line, they are rewarding fans.

University of Kaiserslautern on the campus in Zweibrücken

Far, Far Away

I only saw the story this week, but back in 2018 a lecturer at the University of Kaiserslautern on the campus in Zweibrücken helped turn an observatory into a giant R2-D2.

The Zweibrück Observatory of the Natural Science Association is a public observatory in Zweibrücken, Germany. Hubert Zitt, author of non-fiction, lecturer, and Star Trek expert (these are the credentials I found online), gave the observatory some pop culture flair with the help of painter Klaus Ruffing and some of Zitt’s own students, according to the New York Post.

Sports These Days

DirecTV still has a score guide available to let you know that everything canceled. But people want to watch sports (and place bets). Enter new partnerships: The NBA, National Basketball Players Association, and 2K produced an NBA 2K tournament of 16 NBA players playing NBA2K. The winner’s prize money will go to charity.

ESPN kicked off the tournament with half-hour preshow Friday, April 3. Some coverage airs on ESPN2, but you can watch them play until Saturday, April 11. Pro athletes flocked to Twitch and YouTube to stream themselves playing esports, according to The Verge. F1 driver Lando Norris raced in a virtual version of the Australian Grand Prix using F1 2019 on March 22. What will be next? —MV

How Not to Lose

LV: You see your hand and then make your bid, so you bid zero, and if you don’t win any books, you get a hundred points.

MV: Are you so competitive you would go for no books?

LV: No, I would never bid zero. I always want to win a book.