I read that over three million shipwrecks are estimated to lie scattered across the world’s ocean floors, rivers, and lakes, ranging from ancient vessels to modern ships. To be honest, I feel like that’s a low number.
One reason I used to listen to The Ticket throughout the workday was to escape the stresses of the world, like politics. Unfortunately, it’s inundated with political commercials.
As Green Day is known for its political messaging, its plans for a pregame Super Bowl performance have been widely speculated about. I’m not expecting anything headline worthy, but I bet they’ll be trending.
News like this makes it hard to be optimistic.
The Winter Olympics will officially open this weekend. Twenty-nine-year-old Amber Glenn is a Plano native and is the first woman to win three consecutive U.S. figure skating titles since Michelle Kwan. So, I guess you can say she’s a favorite. Emily Chan is also a figure skater, a year younger, and graduated from McKinney.
It’s rare for Texas to have Winter Olympians, especially a standout. That got me thinking about how the Dallas Stars have played a role in this. Seriously, think about it, the Stars started to play in Dallas in 1993, 33 years ago. No one cared about ice sports in Texas at the time. Since that time, a total of eight Dallas Stars skating centers have opened, and two other ice skating facilities not associated with the Stars have also opened. Before the Stars, all we had in the area were maybe two skating rinks, one at the Galleria and one at the Tandy Center. The Stars Centers opened ice-skating-related sports to the local public. You can reasonably argue that if it wasn’t for the Stars, we wouldn’t have any local products competing in the Winter Olympics, and it’s only going to grow.
Fun Fact: Figure skating is named for the intricate patterns, or “figures” (such as circles and eights), that skaters historically traced on the ice to demonstrate control and precision. Originating in the 1700s, it focused on these designs before evolving into the jumps, spins, and artistic performances seen today.
Also, the first date I took the mother of my children on was to an ice skating rink. She laughed her ass off as I fell on mine all night. It was the first time I ever tried to ice skate, and I should have thought things through more.
In other noteworthy Winter Olympic news:
As reported by the BBC, there’s been a strange rumor floating around men’s ski jumping, and it all started after German newspaper Bild reported in January that some athletes were injecting hyaluronic acid into their penises before being measured by officials for their tight-fitting suits. Why? Apparently, the acid, which is not banned, causes the injected penis to grow in circumference by about one to two centimeters, or a little less than an inch. In theory, this would increase the surface area of the ski suit during jumps, which could possibly increase how far a skier flies and help them eke out a win.
“Hell” isn’t that bad of a curse word, but it was odd that President Trump said it 13 times at the National Prayer Breakfast. Stuff like:
- Fortunately, he has no idea what the hell I’m saying and he’s watching right now.
- They call me “Razin”. I said what the hell kind of name is that, right?
- And we knocked the hell out of them the other day in Nigeria because they were killing Christians.
- We hit them so hard, they still don’t know what the hell happened.
And this was a bit of a head scratcher.
- You know, Mike Johnson’s a very religious person and he does not hide it. He’ll say to me sometimes at lunch, sir, may we pray? I say, excuse me, we’re having lunch in the Oval? It’s OK with me. But he’s a very religious person and he is popular and he’s doing an unbelievable job. So, I think God is watching over you. God is watching over him. I don’t know about me. So, I hang around with him because I feel I’m protected a little bit.
Jackie’s fears became a reality.
Jackie Kennedy expressed hesitation about naming the Kennedy Center after her late husband, John F. Kennedy, in a private 1964 letter to arts venue’s founding chairman
- “Last winter, when the decision was made to name it after him, I was not capable of making any decision — and so many people were pressuring me,” Jackie wrote in a private 1964 letter to Kennedy Center chair Roger Stevens. “I don’t think he needs any memorial — his grave and his Library are that.
- She wrote that, given how hard people had worked to make the Kennedy Center a reality, she was willing to overlook her concerns for the time being so that the project could move forward as planned, but warned Rogers, “If, after a fair amount of time, I do not think [the memorial] is what I wish for him, I will ask Congress to change its name — which they will do.”
- To mitigate her concerns, she laid out strict requirements about how she wanted the facility to be run if they were to make it part of JFK’s legacy.
- First, she was adamant that the director of the center should live in Washington, be devoted to the job, and treat it as a full-time position, so that they would be as respected as the head of the National Gallery or the leader of the Fine Arts Commission.
- “The appointment of trustees must never be allowed to fall into the realm of political patronage,” she wrote. “If the incumbent president has a friend who is interested in the arts — fine — he should be on the board — as he can help — but someone who is being repaid for past favors … or named in hope of campaign contributions — should not be on it.”
- She further demanded that if the center were to be named after JFK, one of his relatives should always remain on the board.
- The former first lady also made it a point to request that she get her own representative on the board who could serve as a liaison between her and the Kennedy Center leadership, vowing that with a personal representative who she trusted on the board, she would happily respond to their questions within “five minutes.”
I saw that singer Lorde announced she is donating the full $204,000 merch haul from her two October 2025 Minneapolis Ultrasound World Tour shows at The Armory to Minnesota immigrant rights groups.
I always wondered how much an artist makes from merchandise after one of their performances. In this case, I had to do a little research to get a better perspective. The Armory holds about 8,500 for a sold-out concert. That’s roughly $102,000 per night. But I’m sure that’s net, not gross.
Fun fact: This is where the Lakers played before they moved to LA.
@connectwithgrowth At first glance, it looks impossible. A kid on a playground trying to lift a tire that clearly weighs more than he should be able to handle. Most people would stop early, not because they lack strength, but because they’ve already decided the outcome. What makes this moment powerful is that no one told him it couldn’t be done. No warnings. No doubt planted. So he keeps trying. He adjusts. He struggles. He fails. And then he succeeds. Not because the tire got lighter, but because belief stayed intact long enough for effort to continue. Many limits in life are learned long before they are proven. When doubt enters early, effort exits quickly. This moment reminds us that belief is often the gatekeeper of persistence. Remove the voice that says stop, and people surprise themselves. #belief #mindsetgrowth #limitingbeliefs ♬ origineel geluid – GROWTH™
