Six Flags over Texas has a new chaperone policy: all guests 17 years of age or younger must be accompanied by a chaperone who is at least 21 years old to enter and remain in the park.
I gave DaughterGeeding four passes to the park for her birthday, and the last day they could be used was Labor Day. She needed a chaperone, so she asked Good Ol’ Dad. One of the last things I wanted to do was spend all day at Six Flags in over 100° weather, but the things you do for love, you know?
I thought that as soon as we got in, she and her four friends would wander off and do their own thing, but one of the nice young men asked, “Mr. Geeding, would you like to come ride Tormenta with us?”
For those of you unaware, the new coaster holds six world records:
Tallest dive coaster: 309 feet
Fastest dive coaster: 87 mph
Longest dive coaster: 4,199 feet of track
Highest 95-degree beyond-vertical drop: 285 feet
Highest Immelmann inversion: 218 feet
Tallest vertical coaster loop: 179 feet
That’s right, it has an inverted drop.
Not only that, but right when it goes over the edge, it holds you for three seconds before the drop.
I typically enjoy roller coasters, but haven’t ridden any since all my five+ spinal surgeries. But I couldn’t say no.
The line wasn’t that long, and they even provided cups of water as you wait. They actually did this for several of the rides. At one point, they announced the ride was shut down, and they had no idea if it would be back up. I thought that was my out, but the kids wanted to wait, and 20 minutes later it was up and running again; since some folks exited the line, our wait was shortened. And much to my chagrin, they wanted to ride in the front row.
The seats were bucketed, but a bit more than expected, almost inverted. When the shoulder harness clamped down, I actually started to panic a little. It was actually a little too tight, as I couldn’t fully inhale, which didn’t help my claustrophobia. Yes, I’m pretty claustrophobic, and it didn’t help that I’m scared of heights. You should have seen how freaked out I was just getting near the edge of the Grand Canyon.
Thankfully, the ride was smooth, really smooth. I cheated a little, which I regret. I feel like when you do these things, you need to face your fears to the max. So for me, I shouldn’t have avoided looking down; I just kept my focus on the horizon. But it was fun; I had a blast. I’m glad I did it with my daughter. And I’m so proud I didn’t wet myself.
After the ride, I let the kids do their own thing. Heck, there was no way I was going to be able to keep up with them in that heat. I always thought riding rides by yourself would be sad and lonely, but I enjoyed it. The New Texas Giant was fun, since it’s no longer a wooden roller coaster and is also a smooth ride.
To my surprise, the park employees were much friendlier and more professional than I expected. Six Flags now provides free lockers to lock up your stuff before you get on a lot of rides. They work like a gym locker where you create your own PIN or code. The park also wasn’t as crowded as I expected. I think the longest I waited for a ride was 25 minutes.
As for my back, I was mostly fine. The walking was the main challenge and caused the most discomfort. For nostalgic purposes, I chose to ride the Judge Roy Scream, even though it’s a wooden roller coaster and is rough and jerky. I quickly learned I don’t have the back for it anymore. Thankfully, I didn’t injure myself, but that was only because I tightly engaged my core the entire time, and that’s no easy task. Having to do that takes a lot of fun out of the experience.
Driving through Flower Mound on my way home to Lewisville, I passed several autonomous Robo Taxis. What stood out was that there aren’t any side mirrors, and I don’t think you can see through the back window. Interestingly, all the ones I spotted were being driven by humans. Perhaps they were transporting them?
The GOP midterm convention is just a weird event, but this surprised me:
Just seems odd to bus folks 14 miles.
Senator Ted Cruz gave President Trump an “A” grade for his handling of the economy and prices during an appearance yesterday on The View. As you’d guess, the audience (or any sane person) agreed. But this is how you know Cruz is prepping for a presidential run. He doesn’t care what the audience thinks. He’s focused on appealing to the Republican base and Trump supporters – that’s how you one would go about wining a nomination.
Pressed on President Trump’s recent comments about the economy and his promise to bring prices down, Sen. Ted Cruz explains on ‘The View’ why he would give the administration an ‘A’ grade for its handling of the economy. pic.twitter.com/kxipfl82Rc
— The View (@TheView) September 9, 2026
This was all over the news yesterday: Anthropic researcher believes more than 10% chance AI ‘could kill all humans’
Evan Hubinger, the Alignment Science Lead at Anthropic, made the X post and quit the company. But one thing no one is really pointing out is that Hubinger did this before the company’s huge IPO next month. By taking this moral stand, he’s missing out on millions of dollars on principle. He could have easily issued the warning and quit after the IPO raking in millions. Keep that in mind when you think about how important this decision was for him.
The NFL season kicked off last night in Seattle. I saw on social media that people were up in arms because the Seahawks had one of their own, Pearl Jam’s guitarist, Mike McCready, perform an electric guitar solo of the National Anthem. It was accompanied by a sign-language interpreter, which, for some reason, offended people. Many didn’t take into consideration that McCready was honoring the late Seattle native and legendary guitarist Jimi Hendrix and his iconic solo performance of the national anthem.
If that upset them, just wait for this: Bills to include Canadian national anthem at home opener vs. Lions – ESPN
The NFL has a game tonight, but it will be played in Australia, which means the game is technically being played in the future, and this rightfully confuses 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan.
