Indy Digest: Aug. 7, 2023
What’s in a name? How important is a name?
In the publishing world, a lot of names include very specific words like “daily” and “weekly.” So what happens when a publication with one of those specific words changes its publishing schedule—like, say, when Entertainment Weekly went monthly several years ago (before eliminating its print version entirely last year)?
In Entertainment Weekly’s case, they kept the name. Branding is important, after all—apparently more important than accuracy.
This is the same tact college athletics conferences have been taking for years. Almost all of them have a number or a geographic reference in their name that, at one time, made perfect sense … but then things changed.
The Big Ten Conference had 10 members for decades. Then, in 1990, Penn State joined—but they kept the Big Ten name (although they changed the logo to include an 11, in a graphic nod to the contradiction). Then in 2011, Nebraska joined, giving the conference 12 teams.
Fun fact: There’s also a major conference called the Big 12. For a brief amount of time, due to teams leaving the Big 12, that conference had 10 teams, while the Big 10 had 12.
In recent years—thanks to a scramble for more money, of course—colleges have been changing athletic conferences like crazy. As a result, the Big 10 will soon have 18 teams, and the Big 12 will have 16 teams.
This brings us to the Pac-12 Conference. Before 2011, the conference had 10 teams, and was called the Pac-10; they bucked the trend and actually changed their name when adding Utah and Colorado in 2011. And now … the conference may no longer even exist in a year.
Last year, USC and UCLA announced they were leaving the Pac-12 for the Big Ten. And in the last couple of weeks, the conference has collapsed, with all but four members announcing they’ll be joining the Big Ten or Big 12 come July 2024. This left the four remaining schools in a bad position. Well, today the news broke that two of those schools, Stanford and California—both in the San Francisco Bay Area—could possibly be joining the ACC.
The Atlantic Coast Conference.
So, what’s in a name? How important is a name?
—Jimmy Boegle
From the Independent
CV History: How John Guthrie McCallum Became Palm Springs’ First Permanent Non-Native American Resident
By Greg Niemann
August 7th, 2023
Because his son suffered from tuberculosis, Judge John Guthrie McCallum had abandoned a successful career and moved to San Bernardino. There, he was told about an even warmer, dryer climate—and the healing properties of the hot springs called Agua Caliente.
A Fresh Approach: Seth Rogen Finally Gives the World a Good Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Movie
By Bob Grimm
August 7th, 2023
The story in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem might not be all that original or new—but the approach feels fresh, and the movie is often a blast.
Just Nutty Enough: Nicolas Cage Elevates ‘Sympathy for the Devil’ Above Mediocrity
By Bob Grimm
August 7th, 2023
When Nicolas Cage is hitting the right crazed notes, he’s fun to watch, and he can make otherwise mediocre movies a good time—something proven by Sympathy for the Devil.
More News
• The three people killed in a helicopter crash Sunday evening while battling a Cabazon wildfire have been identified. The Los Angeles Times reports: “A spray of pink retardant marked a rocky hillside in Riverside County on Monday, where only hours earlier, two firefighting helicopters suffered a rare and fatal collision while battling a small blaze. The tragedy in the skies over Cabazon left three people dead and authorities scrambling to discern what could have gone wrong. The two choppers struck each other around 7:05 p.m. Sunday, with one crashing and the other landing safely. … The three people killed in the crash were identified as California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection Assistant Chief Joshua Bischof, 46, Cal Fire Capt. Tim Rodriguez, 44, and contract pilot Tony Sousa, 55. The aircraft that crashed was a Bell 407 helicopter that was responsible for observation and coordination, officials said. The second helicopter—a Sikorsky S-64E, also called a Skycrane—was able to make a safe landing with two people on board.”
• It’s time to pass the Most Dominant Variant crown to yet another COVID-19 strain. CBS News reports: “The EG.5 variant now makes up the largest proportion of new COVID-19 infections nationwide, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated, as multiple parts of the country have been reporting their first upticks of the virus in months. Overall, as of Friday, 17.3% of COVID-19 cases nationwide were projected to be caused by EG.5, more than any other group, up from 7.5% through the first week of July. … Experts say EG.5 is one of the fastest growing lineages worldwide, thanks to what might be a ‘slightly beneficial mutation’ that is helping it outcompete some of its siblings. … Officials have said that symptoms and severity from these strains have been largely similar, though they acknowledge that discerning changes in the virus is becoming increasingly difficult as surveillance of the virus has slowed.”
• The Food and Drug Administration has approved the first-ever oral pill as a treatment for postpartum depression, a potentially devastating mental illness which CNN says “can develop in about 1 in 7 new mothers after childbirth.” More from the CNN piece: “On Friday, the FDA announced that the treatment, to be sold under the brand named Zurzuvae, has been approved as a once-daily pill taken over the course of 14 days. ‘Postpartum depression is a serious and potentially life-threatening condition in which women experience sadness, guilt, worthlessness—even, in severe cases, thoughts of harming themselves or their child. And, because postpartum depression can disrupt the maternal-infant bond, it can also have consequences for the child’s physical and emotional development,’ Dr. Tiffany R. Farchione, director of the Division of Psychiatry in the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research said.”
• In other drug-related news: Pfizer is limiting the distribution of some medications after a North Carolina facility was damaged by a tornado. CNBC explains: “The letter listed 12 injection products that Pfizer will only distribute through emergency orders ‘due to their high medical need,’ effective ‘immediately and until further notice.’ … That includes a type of sodium chloride injection, which is used to replenish water and salt lost as a result of certain conditions. It also includes an injection used to treat metabolic acidosis, or the buildup of excess acid in the body due to ailments like kidney failure. But the list also includes drugs that did not have supply issues as of last month, such as certain versions of heart failure injection dobutamine and dopamine, which is used to treat shock and low blood pressure caused by heart attack, infections or surgery. … The nation is already facing an unprecedented shortage of medicine, ranging from ADHD pills to pain medicine to injectable cancer therapies. Manufacturing quality-control issues and surges in demand, among other factors, have caused the supply problems.”
• And in other government-agency-related news, ProPublica reports on a baffling (and potentially deadly) decision the EPA recently made: “The Environmental Protection Agency approved a component of boat fuel made from discarded plastic that the agency’s own risk formula determined was so hazardous, everyone exposed to the substance continually over a lifetime would be expected to develop cancer. Current and former EPA scientists said that threat level is unheard of. It is a million times higher than what the agency usually considers acceptable for new chemicals and six times worse than the risk of lung cancer from a lifetime of smoking. Federal law requires the EPA to conduct safety reviews before allowing new chemical products onto the market. If the agency finds that a substance causes unreasonable risk to health or the environment, the EPA is not allowed to approve it without first finding ways to reduce that risk. But the agency did not do that in this case. Instead, the EPA decided its scientists were overstating the risks and gave Chevron the go-ahead to make the new boat fuel ingredient at its refinery in Pascagoula, Mississippi. Though the substance can poison air and contaminate water, EPA officials mandated no remedies other than requiring workers to wear gloves, records show.”
• Local real estate agents are competing to see who can raise the most in donations for the LGBTQ+ Center of the Desert’s Community Food Bank. From a news release: “‘Drive to Survive! The Race Against Hunger’ is the name of this year’s food drive being sponsored by the Greater Palm Springs Realtors. The Race Against Hunger began on August 1, and will run through September 15, 2023. The Realtors are building momentum amongst themselves with their own internal challenge titled: ‘May the Best Broker/Agent Win.’ The Greater Palm Springs Realtors encourage all local agents to compete in raising the most donations. The winning agent will receive a trophy, a half page ad in Palm Springs Life Magazine and a feature on the GPSR website. … The Center Community Food Bank provides food distribution to 250 families or 600 individuals every week of the year.” If you want to make a donation to the Community Food Bank, click here.
• And finally … Insider does the important work of reporting on a spate of recent … uh, incidents? … regarding aircraft pilots: “A Lufthansa pilot made a 15-mile-long, penis-shaped loop in the sky after being asked to divert their flight. The pilot was flying from Frankfurt to Sicily on July 28, but was asked mid-flight to land in Malta instead, according to the air-traffic website Flightradar24. The cause was said to be a disruption at the flight’s original destination of Catania-Fontanarossa Airport, which had been struggling after a fire damaged the main terminal on July 16 amid a historic heat wave, the Italian newspaper La Repubblica reported. … It remains unclear whether the pilot intentionally designed the shape. Insider asked Lufthansa about this, but the airline avoided the question in its response. Instead, a spokesperson said that wind shear made it impossible to proceed with the landing approach to Catania.” Click on the story to learn about other phallic pattern controversies!
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