A good friend asked if I could pick him up from a place at six in the morning in Dallas, which was just a 20-minute drive down I-35 for me. I thought nothing of it, but I forgot how aggressive morning commuters can be. Traffic wasn’t congested or anything, but it was as if everyone was driving as if they were 10 minutes late getting to wherever they were going, and all their blinkers had become inoperable.
That’s one way to create a lasting legacy. Unlike flagpoles, a 90,000 square feet $200 million ballroom can’t be uprooted. Naturally, it will forever be referred to as the Trump Ballroom.
Trump is building a new $200 million ballroom at the White House
Honestly, I support this and think it makes sense. This sort of thing is Trump’s bread and butter. Not to mention, he’s right, always having to host an event inside a tent is a bit unbefitting for a president to host large-scale events. The East Wing currently accommodates 200 seated people; this ballroom will have a seated capacity of 650 people.
And the Secret Service will love the idea, as it will make security much easier as opposed to hosting an event away from the White House. What shocks me is that President Trump didn’t make the announcement himself; it’s his sort of thing to be in such a spotlight. And it appears they are going about it the right way, with donors fitting the bill instead of taxpayers.
In a press release, the White House said Trump has held several meetings with members of the White House staff, the National Park Service, the White House Military Office, and the United States Secret Service to discuss design features and planning.
“The President and the Trump White House are “fully committed to working with the appropriate organizations to preserve the special history of the white House, while building a beautiful ballroom that can be enjoyed by future administrations and generations of Americans to come,” White House chief of staff Susie Wiles said.
Construction starts soon, this September. I haven’t found anything about a planned completion date, but surely it will be completed before the president’s term. But then again, who knows when he’s leaving office? It is interesting to imagine the stress and pressure the builder will have to come in on budget and on time.
This headline reads like Godzilla’s next big brawl is about to break out.
Radioactive wasp nest found at site where US once made nuclear bombs
Workers at a site in South Carolina that once made key parts for nuclear bombs in the United States have found a radioactive wasp nest but officials said there is no danger to anyone.
Employees who routinely check radiation levels at the Savannah River Site near Aiken found a wasp nest on July 3 on a post near tanks where liquid nuclear waste is stored, according to a report from the US Department of Energy.
The nest had a radiation level 10 times what is allowed by federal regulations, officials said.
The workers sprayed the nest with insect killer, removed it and disposed of it as radioactive waste. No wasps were found, officials said.
I’m not sure how it came about, but during crosstalk with the Musers yesterday, they wondered when an actor’s voice is dubbed in another language, if it’s always the same actor. Several years ago, on a flight, I watched a wonderful documentary about the 24 voice actors who dubbed George Clooney’s movies in their respective languages, Being George Clooney. Here’s the trailer.
Toy Story 2 almost never happened and was saved after being deleted twice.
Pixar was putting the finishing touches on what would become one of its most beloved films. A slip-up deleted the entire movie from the studio’s servers. To make it worse, the backup system had quietly failed. One employee, working from home while caring for her newborn, happened to have an offline backup on her personal computer, saving the project from total annihilation.