Hump day!
SIX FLAGS SHUTS DOWN NINE COASTERS, SAYS SAFETY IS 'ONE OF' ITS HIGHEST PRIORITIES
Just before 4 p.m. Monday at Six Flags Over Georgia, a 42-year-old Atlanta man was ejected from the Goliath hypercoaster, struck other riders and fell beneath the track. Police identified him as Hassan Jihad Ibn Kariem, a school employee whose charter school called him a cherished member of its community. Four other people were hospitalized. Cobb County's Major Crimes Unit and the state office that inspects amusement rides are now trying to figure out how a man comes out of a coaster that has been running since 2006. Six Flags answered by closing nine coasters at six parks in the US and Canada: Nitro in New Jersey, Raging Bull in Illinois, Fury 325 and Thunder Striker at Carowinds, Orion and Diamondback at Kings Island, Behemoth and Leviathan at Canada's Wonderland, and the other Goliath at Magic Mountain. The company called it an abundance of caution and said guest safety "remains one of our highest priorities." One of. That sentence got lawyered until it stopped meaning anything. Goliath is 200 feet tall, hits 70 mph, and keeps you in your seat with a lap bar. No seat belts. Every closed ride except Magic Mountain's Goliath was built by Bolliger & Mabillard, the Swiss firm now saying it is actively investigating. All of this lands two weeks after Magic Mountain announced it was permanently retiring X2 following a CNN investigation into injuries and deaths on the ride.
Sources (3)
- cnn.com - Six Flags temporarily closes some roller coasters nationwide after man dies falling from ride in Georgia
- cbsnews.com - Six Flags temporarily closes 9 rides across 6 parks after deadly incident on Georgia roller coaster
- pbs.org - Man killed on a Six Flags roller coaster was thrown from the ride and hit other patrons, police say
CORNELL BANS FRAT PARTIES
Cornell president Michael Kotlikoff announced Tuesday that all parties and social events at fraternity houses are banned for the rest of the 2026-27 academic year, effective immediately, with what he called zero tolerance for violations. Here is why. A former student known as Jane Doe sued Cornell, the Chi Phi fraternity and seven of its members last month over an alleged gang rape at the frat house in October 2024. Nobody was ever criminally charged. Cornell ran its own Title IX process instead: a three-member panel, 12 days of hearings in May 2025, and sanctions that ranged from expulsion to writing a reflection paper. Two men were expelled. Two were suspended and put on probation. Two more got no-contact orders, training modules and a reflection paper, which is what middle school gives you for throwing a chair. Now everyone with an actual badge is involved. The governor tapped Attorney General Letitia James to re-examine the case, Cornell hired former deputy AG Sally Yates to review its own policies, and the school will let New York State Police independently investigate campus sexual assault reports. Ithaca's Common Council passed a temporary moratorium on city permits for student group parties through Nov. 5. The faculty senate has teed up a no-confidence resolution. Hundreds protested, some chanting to ban the frats, some asking Kotlikoff to resign. His letter says he is deeply sorry and appalled, two years after the night in question.
POPE LEO DIAGNOSED WITH LUNG CANCER
Pope Leo XIV, 71, checked into Rome's Gemelli hospital on Tuesday, spent about three hours in an operating room, and came out with one fewer lung lobe. The surgery itself ran roughly 90 minutes. The rest was prep, anesthesia, and whatever forms you sign before cutting into a pope. Surgeons took the lower lobe of his right lung with a video-assisted technique, tested the tissue on the spot, and confirmed lung adenocarcinoma, which the preoperative scans had already flagged. The bulletin, signed by surgeon Stefano Margaritora and papal physician Luigi Carbone, says the operation was successful with no complications, and that Leo woke up normally and went back to his room on the hospital's 10th floor. Yes, Gemelli has a papal floor. The statement also called the removal "radical," which sent the press office out to explain that radical here means they took every suspicious scrap of tissue, not that the pope has gone anarchist. What the bulletin does not say is what happens now. No chemo, no other treatment, nothing announced while more tests run. His lymph nodes went to the lab and nobody has released those results. Georgetown oncologist Dr. Stephen Liu called adenocarcinoma the most common lung cancer and the one with the most favorable prognosis, then added the part that actually matters: they have the diagnosis, now they need the stage. Audiences are off through October 20, and Montevideo's Cardinal Daniel Sturla says the planned Uruguay trip is a doctors' call now.
86-YEAR-OLD BUSTED AT 110 IN A 45 SAYS THE CORVETTE STARTED IT
Last June a Lake County deputy clocked a gray Nissan 350Z doing 110 in a 45 zone on U.S. 27 near Leesburg, with a red Corvette alongside it at 125. The 350Z belonged to William Bosworth, 85 at the time, who sat there with a cigarillo in his mouth and explained he was "just out having a little ride in my favorite car." The deputy was not buying it. "I wasn't born last night," he told Bosworth, which, fair, neither was Bosworth. He pleaded no contest to racing and dangerous excessive speeding under Florida's Super Speeder law. That got him a year of supervised probation, a $500 fine, an advanced driver improvement course, and a license suspended for a year. He says he's out more than $7,000 in legal costs. The 350Z, seat covers stitched with his own name, now sits in the garage. Now 86, Bosworth told News 6 the whole thing devastated him, and that it's funny but it's not funny. He still denies racing. He says the Corvette swerved at him and he was on the gas six to ten seconds to get clear. The Corvette driver, 57-year-old Phillip Signorino, pleaded not guilty and told deputies his Corvette couldn't even hit those speeds, which is a hell of a thing to say about your own Corvette.
Sources (1)
CHIP STOCKS DOWN SIX DAYS STRAIGHT BECAUSE OPENAI ONLY MAKES $50 BILLION A YEAR
The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index fell for a sixth straight session Tuesday, down 2.7% on the day and heading for its worst run in about 16 months. The trigger was a Financial Times report that OpenAI told investors its annualized run rate was nearing $50 billion at the end of September, not the roughly $70 billion number that had been circulating. Fifty billion dollars a year, and the market read it as a disaster. Here's the stupid part. Most of that $20 billion gap is bookkeeping. The bigger figure grossed up sales made through cloud partners so OpenAI could be compared with Anthropic, and OpenAI has since told investors it still expects $70 billion or more by year end. A definitional argument about who books the revenue took a hammer to the entire global chip complex. And it really was the entire complex. South Korea's KOSPI dropped more than 6% in a single session, with Samsung off 10% and SK Hynix off 8%, leaving the index down about a quarter from its July high. Kioxia fell 13% in Tokyo. Micron lost 5% after tripling since January. Firmus, an Nvidia-backed data center company, pulled a $5 billion Australian IPO last week because not enough buyers turned up. BlackRock went neutral on US equities Monday and cited possible volatility around the AI buildout, which is fund manager for we also have no idea.
Sources (3)
|
Mr. Mug presents
Get on the | |||
| |||
|
Then be the dude
who sets it. Earn a slot. Set the day's puzzle. Your clues, your number, your name on it. Be the dude → |
