These are the top maybe-not headlines from the past 36-hours presented by The Conversation Project from raw engagement data from our social media to the headlines posted over the past day.
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The 8 topics that our followers ranked as the most conversational are:
SPACEX CREW DRAGON: BAD WEATHER POSTPONES HISTORIC NASA LAUNCH
Bad weather postponed a SpaceX rocket launch, which was set to be the first time a private company sent humans into orbit – and the first time in nearly a decade that the United States launched astronauts into orbit from U.S. soil. Veteran NASA astronauts Robert Behnken and Doug Hurley were prepared to launch from Kennedy Space Center’s pad 39A at 4:33 p.m. aboard the new Dragon capsule on top of a Falcon 9 rocket. The planned backup dates for the mission known as Crew Dragon Demo-2 are Saturday at 3:22 p.m. EDT and Sunday at 3 p.m. EDT. The weather for both backup dates stands at 60% “go,” according to the Space Force’s latest forecast. The former space shuttle astronauts went through the paces for their mission, including a traditional breakfast of steak and eggs, suit-up at the historic Operations and Checkout Building and a 20-minute ride to pad 39A in two Tesla SUVs. Severe weather brought wind, rain and lightning to the Space Coast on Wednesday, leading to a tornado warning and a significant weather advisory hours before the planned launch. Because the capsule has to intercept the International Space Station about 250 miles overhead, the capsule needed to launch at 4:33 p.m. Wednesday.
COMMENTARY: America’s return to active space launch, even if by proxy of Elon Musk, is a very cool idea that brings a ring of pride. This is a situation that is as unfortunate as the conditions that must be perfect to make this thing happen. We’ll see is the capsule does take off on Saturday.
[ SOURCE: usatoday.com ]
DISNEY WORLD SETS JULY 11 REOPENING OF MAGIC KINGDOM, ANIMAL KINGDOM
Walt Disney World plans to reopen July 11, according to a presentation the company made to an economic recovery task force Wednesday. Disney’s Florida theme parks have been closed since March 15 because of the coronavirus pandemic, and their reopening will follow its Florida rival, Universal Orlando, which is set to reopen June 5. SeaWorld Orlando also presented its plan to Orange County’s Economic Recovery Task Force and plans to reopenfor employees as soon as June 10, and the public on June 11. Jim McPhee, senior vice president of operations for Walt Disney World, said the company plans a phased reopening of the park, with the Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom opening July 11. Epcot and Disney’s Hollywood Studios are set to reopen July 15. Existing ticket holders, annual passholders and those with Disney Resort hotel reservations will be able to make reservation requests before new tickets are sold. As with other theme parks that have announced their reopening plans, Disney World visitors will undergo a temperature check and be required to wear face masks. The parks will provide masks to people who do not bring their own. Social distancing markers will be visible throughout the theme parks. Disney’s cast members will enforce the rules, including the mask requirement, as part of a “social distancing squad.” Park capacity will also be limited, and not all attractions will reopen right away.
COMMENTARY: When vacations are back then the world is back. But vacations coming back won’t be completely ‘back’ until we has figured out a consistent profile of COVID-19 and have a viable vaccine distributed to the masses. But Mickey and Minnie must be as eager to let people back into their house, as are the Disney shareholders.
[ SOURCE: usatoday.com ]
130 PEOPLE CLAIM TO BE JEFFREY EPSTEIN’S CHILD TO CLAIM ESTATE
At least 130 people have come forward claiming to be Jeffrey Epstein’s secret offspring — hoping to get a cut of the late pedophile’s $634 million estate, according to a report. A Florida-based legal service looking for potential heirs of the perverted moneyman told The Sun it has been contacted by at least 386 people, with around 130 of them claiming to be his children. Epsteinheirs.com launched hours after Prince Andrew’s pal was found hanged in his Manhattan lockup last August and the calls have been streaming in ever since, founder Harvey Morse told the UK paper. Calls have come in from around the world, including the US, Caribbean and France, where Epstein, 66, had homes. They include a British woman claiming she got pregnant after a one-night stand in the 1990s — and even an uncorroborated report from someone who says they were at a sex party with government officials and royalty, the paper claimed. Morse said anyone with a believable claim would have to petition a US court for a DNA test to confirm their claim and may be called to give testimony.
COMMENTARY: I am bad at math, so I can not wrap my head around the real possibility of on man fathering the 130 people who have put in claims (and who knows, maybe more). How this man’s story was able to go from bonkers to beyond after his suspicious death makes my head hurt.
[ SOURCE: nypost.com ]
TUESDAY MORNING STORE CLOSINGS: RETAILER FILES CHAPTER 11 BANKRUPTCY
Off-price retailer Tuesday Morning filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Wednesday with plans to close more than a third of its stores. Tuesday Morning had been struggling when the coronavirus pandemic began and went into a free fall when it was forced to temporarily close its locations due to the crisis. The company joins a growing list of retailers that have tumbled into Chapter 11 bankruptcy during the pandemic, including J.C. Penney, Neiman Marcus and J. Crew. In each case, the companies were already in rough shape before the pandemic began due to excessive debt and declining foot traffic. Tuesday Morning – which sells a wide variety of merchandise including home decor, bath and body goods, crafts, food, and toys – hopes to stay in business while using the bankruptcy process to restructure its operations. The company plans to permanently close about 230 of its 687 stores this summer. Of those, it has already identified 132 that will be shuttered. It will identify the next hundred or so to close after completing an effort to renegotiate leases. Although about 80% of its stores have reopened, Tuesday Morning said the “immense impact of COVID-19” created “an insurmountable financial hurdle” as it tried to reinvent itself without court protection from its creditors.
COMMENTARY: I love these types of stores, and they too are being decimated with the slow down of the economy. This is not surprising, with the margins for the major retailers being so slim, the second-sale markets are even more so.
[ SOURCE: usatoday.com ]
BURGER KING DEBUTS SOCIAL-DISTANCING CROWNS IN GERMANY
Burger King has a new way to keep customers socially distant in Germany. The fast-food chain debuted “social-distance crowns” that keep customers 6 feet away from each other as restaurants reopen dine-in service. Burger King has also rolled out new coronavirus-centric campaigns in other countries. In Italy, for example, the chain is selling a “Social Distancing Whopper,” which features three times the amount of raw onions usually found on the burger. Ideally, people’s onion-induced bad breath will keep them farther away from each other. Restaurants around the world are getting creative as businesses reopen. In the German city of Schwerin, Jacqueline Rothe, a restaurant owner, offered customers hats topped with pool noodles when Cafe Rothe reopened. While customers aren’t regularly wearing pool noodles on their heads, Rothe told Business Insider that hats helped show how difficult it is for restaurateurs to enforce social distancing. In Maryland, Fish Tales Bar & Grill transformed inflatable inner tubes into portable tables to keep customers 6 feet apart. And, in Sweden, a restaurant called Bord för En, or Table for One, is serving a single person every day, delivering food to a table in the middle of a field via basket on a rope pulley system. Restaurants around the world are using mannequins, dolls, and cardboard cutouts to block customers from sitting at tables that need to be kept empty to maintain distance between customers. In Thailand, Maison Saigon is using stuffed panda bears to indicate where customers can and cannot sit.
COMMENTARY: Restaurants have been open for dine-in service where I live for a few weeks, and I have yet to partake. The images of few tables is just as eerie as the images of no tables from the beginning of the shutdown. The dining out experience is the epitome of being social, and social distancing is definitely out to ruin it.
[ SOURCE: businessinsider.com ]
MASSACHUSETTS WOMAN BEATS COVID-19, CELEBRATES WITH BUD LIGHT
Shelley Gunn describes her Polish grandmother, Jennie Stejna, as having a feisty spirit. Stejna certainly displayed that spirit as the 103-year-old woman recently survived a bout with the coronavirus. Three weeks ago, Gunn said Stejna was the first to test positive for coronavirus in her nursing home. She had a low-grade fever and was moved to a separate ward. Stejna didn’t really grasp or understand COVID-19, Gunn said, but did know she was very ill. Gunn said there was always a staff member by her side. As Stejna’s condition worsened, Gunn said they called to say what they thought were their final goodbyes. She thanked Stejna for everything she had done for her. When Shelley’s husband, Adam Gunn, asked whether Stejna was ready to go to heaven, she replied, “Hell yes.” But on May 13, Gunn said she got good news — Stejna had recovered. The staff gave Stejna an ice cold Bud Light to celebrate, something she loved but hadn’t had in a long time, Gunn said. Stejna was the first resident in the nursing home to recover. They still have 33 cases of coronavirus, Gunn said.
COMMENTARY: The one consistent about COVID-19 is that it effects the most vulnerable disproportionally. The elderly are particularly at risk, even if the disease is 99% recoverable. We raise our glasses to Jennie Stejna and hope for the recover of many more of her compatriots.
[ SOURCE: usatoday.com ]
BURGER KING DEBUTS SOCIAL-DISTANCING CROWNS IN GERMANY
Burger King has a new way to keep customers socially distant in Germany. The fast-food chain debuted “social-distance crowns” that keep customers 6 feet away from each other as restaurants reopen dine-in service. Burger King has also rolled out new coronavirus-centric campaigns in other countries. In Italy, for example, the chain is selling a “Social Distancing Whopper,” which features three times the amount of raw onions usually found on the burger. Ideally, people’s onion-induced bad breath will keep them farther away from each other. Restaurants around the world are getting creative as businesses reopen. In the German city of Schwerin, Jacqueline Rothe, a restaurant owner, offered customers hats topped with pool noodles when Cafe Rothe reopened. While customers aren’t regularly wearing pool noodles on their heads, Rothe told Business Insider that hats helped show how difficult it is for restaurateurs to enforce social distancing. In Maryland, Fish Tales Bar & Grill transformed inflatable inner tubes into portable tables to keep customers 6 feet apart. And, in Sweden, a restaurant called Bord för En, or Table for One, is serving a single person every day, delivering food to a table in the middle of a field via basket on a rope pulley system. Restaurants around the world are using mannequins, dolls, and cardboard cutouts to block customers from sitting at tables that need to be kept empty to maintain distance between customers. In Thailand, Maison Saigon is using stuffed panda bears to indicate where customers can and cannot sit.
COMMENTARY: Restaurants have been open for dine-in service where I live for a few weeks, and I have yet to partake. The images of few tables is just as eerie as the images of no tables from the beginning of the shutdown. The dining out experience is the epitome of being social, and social distancing is definitely out to ruin it.
[ SOURCE: businessinsider.com ]
MASSACHUSETTS WOMAN BEATS COVID-19, CELEBRATES WITH BUD LIGHT
Shelley Gunn describes her Polish grandmother, Jennie Stejna, as having a feisty spirit. Stejna certainly displayed that spirit as the 103-year-old woman recently survived a bout with the coronavirus. Three weeks ago, Gunn said Stejna was the first to test positive for coronavirus in her nursing home. She had a low-grade fever and was moved to a separate ward. Stejna didn’t really grasp or understand COVID-19, Gunn said, but did know she was very ill. Gunn said there was always a staff member by her side. As Stejna’s condition worsened, Gunn said they called to say what they thought were their final goodbyes. She thanked Stejna for everything she had done for her. When Shelley’s husband, Adam Gunn, asked whether Stejna was ready to go to heaven, she replied, “Hell yes.” But on May 13, Gunn said she got good news — Stejna had recovered. The staff gave Stejna an ice cold Bud Light to celebrate, something she loved but hadn’t had in a long time, Gunn said. Stejna was the first resident in the nursing home to recover. They still have 33 cases of coronavirus, Gunn said.
COMMENTARY: The one consistent about COVID-19 is that it effects the most vulnerable disproportionally. The elderly are particularly at risk, even if the disease is 99% recoverable. We raise our glasses to Jennie Stejna and hope for the recover of many more of her compatriots.
[ SOURCE: usatoday.com ]
Eight Things To Talk About uses the raw engagement data from the social media engagement from The Conversation Project to generate the top-ranking headlines over the course of the past day.
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