Generational JSN game loading tonight.- Charlie
SAUDIS DECIDE THEY ARE BORED WITH GOLF, FILE FOR BANKRUPTCY
LIV Golf filed for Chapter 11 in New Jersey federal bankruptcy court on Tuesday. Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund really thought that pro golf needed shotgun starts and team nicknames but, after four years and more than 5 billion dollars later it's walking back on that claim. The PIF pulled its funding back in April, reportedly while burning $100 million a month, and governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan quit as chairman not long after. The same fund is now floating $49.6 million in debtor-in-possession financing, subject to court approval, which is the going rate for backing out of a $5 billion deal. The plan, under a restructuring agreement with BC Partners Credit, is a leaner "LIV 2.0" majority owned by the players. Generous, until you read the creditor list and find that the players are the ones holding the bag: Rahm at $7.47 million, Bryson DeChambeau at $5.76 million, Dustin Johnson at $5.48 million, Cameron Smith at $4.85 million. The company listed assets of $100 million to $500 million against liabilities of $500 million to $1 billion. Congratulations, fellas, it's yours. The good news for golf fans is that nobody is obligated to join LIV 2.0 regardless of those multi-year deals, so every guy who took the guaranteed Saudi cash is free to leave and return to the PGA. It seems the divide in professional golf in coming to a close in a fashion not many saw coming 4 years ago.
NOBEL PRIZES GIVEN OUT FOR SPLASHPROOF URINAL AND NOSE-BLOWING STUDY
The 36th Ig Nobel Prizes were handed out in Zurich on September 3, essentially the parody version of the Nobel Prizes. The economics award went to Paul Piff and his co-authors for "Higher Social Class Predicts Increased Unethical Behavior." Translation: put out a bowl of candy earmarked for kids, and the wealthy participants helped themselves more often than not. The same team also clocked drivers of expensive late-model cars cutting people off at a busy four-way intersection. Peer-reviewed proof that the guy in the new Benz is exactly who you assumed he was. Physics went to the team that worked out why urinals splash back and proposed redesigns cutting the spray to 1.4 percent of what you are currently taking home on your pants. Chemistry went to researchers who found milk proteins from the viviparous cockroach pack three times the energy of cow milk, a fact you will now think about forever. Technology went to a group that used a mosquito's mouthparts as a nozzle for cheap high-resolution 3D printing. Medicine went posthumously to Japanese ENT Tokuji Unno for a 1977 aerodynamic study of nose-blowing that recommends going big and long. After decades in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the ceremony relocated to Switzerland because winners and guests found it difficult or unsafe to travel to the US. Every winner got a mushroom-shaped trophy and ten trillion Zimbabwean dollars, worth about four cents.
Sources (3)
- cnn.com - Research into nose-blowing, candy stealing and splash-free urinals wins big at 2026 Ig Nobel awards
- wisn.com - Research into nose blowing, candy stealing and splash-free urinals honored at 2026 Ig Nobel awards
- smithsonianmag.com - Stealing Candy From Children, Splash-Proof Urinals and Buried Panties, Oh My!
THERE'S A EUROPEAN PARTY HAPPENING IN GREENLAND AND THE U.S. DIDN'T GET INVITED
Eleven NATO countries dropped roughly 400 troops into southern Greenland on Sept. 7 for an exercise called Arctic Shield, running through the 18th. French and Dutch marines, a Belgian drone unit, Finnish and Danish special forces, Canadian cold weather specialists, and Home Guard units from Denmark, Norway and Sweden. The U.S. is not part of it, though American fighter jets are flying separate Arctic air missions alongside. Meanwhile Ursula von der Leyen stood in Nuuk and handed over 200 million euros, about $232 million, for 2026 and 2027 infrastructure and defense upgrades. Internet cables, hydropower, fisheries, education, housing are at the top of the list and she wants to double EU budget support past half a billion euros starting in 2028. Her line was that Greenland's future is for the people of Greenland and Denmark to decide, no one else. Trump was hardly mentioned during the event, hours later he posted an AI-generated map on Truth Social with the Stars and Stripes laid over Canada, Mexico, Greenland, Iceland, Cuba and Jamaica, the whole thing labeled "United States of America," with no caption. Iceland summoned the U.S. ambassador. The coverage split immediately: some outlets called it a statement of territorial ambition, others pointed out the White House attached zero policy to it and it isn't an annexation plan. Either way America looks like the odd kid out in class at the moment.
A ROCKET COMPANY THAT HASN'T SHOT ANY ROCKETS RAISES $1 BILLION
Stoke Space, a Kent, Washington outfit whose lifetime orbital record is zero for zero, just completed the initial closing of a $1 billion Series E. That takes total money raised to $2.3 billion. The differentiator comes down to reusability, and how they plan to use their assets. The cash buys two rockets. Nova Pathfinder, the one that's supposed to actually leave the ground, is targeting early 2027 out of a rebuilt Launch Complex 14 at Cape Canaveral, having already slipped out of late 2026. Its first flight carries a spacecraft for AstroForge, an asteroid mining startup, so an unproven rocket is hauling the hopes of a company that wants to strip-mine space rocks. Basically a shot in the dark riding on another shot in the dark. Then there's Nova Block 2, shown publicly for the first time Tuesday: 15 metric tons to low Earth orbit, 14 engines on the first stage, debut penciled in for 2029. The pitch is full reuse. Both stages come home and fly again quickly. Nobody on Earth has pulled that off, including SpaceX, whose Falcon 9 recovers only the booster and still puts 18.5 tons up in reusable mode. Some context on the pile of money: Rocket Lab had raised $148 million when it closed its Series D in 2017, and Electron reached orbit the following January. Stoke has taken in roughly $2.1 billion since January 2025, every dollar of it before a single flight.
NFL OPENS ON A WEDNESDAY SO AUSTRALIA CAN GET A DOSE OF FOOTBALL
Football is back Wednesday at 8:20 ET, when the Seahawks host the Patriots at Lumen Field in a rematch of Super Bowl LX, the one Seattle won 29-13 in February. It's the NFL's first Wednesday opener since 2012, when the league got out of the way of a Democratic National Convention speech. This time the reason is Melbourne. The 49ers and Rams play Thursday night (American time) at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, which will be 10:35 Friday morning in Melbourne, so the whole schedule slid up a day to give Australia an NFC West game with its coffee. The big headline coming into the game is New England spending the final hours before kickoff at the bank. Christian Gonzalez signed for four years and $135 million, $102 million guaranteed, including a $33 million signing bonus that's a record for the position. That makes him the highest-paid cornerback in league history, edging the four-year, $132 million deal Devon Witherspoon signed with the team the Patriots play Wednesday. Months of stalled negotiations, and what finally moved it was a kickoff time. Seattle enters as 3 point favorites. San Francisco brought its injury report to Australia. Nick Bosa is playing after tearing his ACL in Week 3 last season and missing 14 games. George Kittle, who tore his Achilles in a playoff win over Philadelphia, is trending toward suiting up. The Rams open as Super Bowl favorites with the reigning MVP at quarterback, so nobody's taking the Aussie trip as a vacation.
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