Friday, December 26, 2025
Home Blog Page 1184

Why Disney World Uses Lyft And Not Uber For Their ‘Minnie Vans’

Disney World has unleashed a fleet of Minnie vans to make the “happiest place on earth” a little less “the most exhausting place on earth.”

And while that brings a smile to many peoples faces, the news is a bit of a scourge to Uber, which had hoped Disney would partner with them, but the theme park has opted to go with competitor Lyft.

For a flat $20, guests can get catch a ride in specially-arted vehicles (they’re supposed to resemble Minnie Mouse with a pink dress and while polka dots). The service is currently being tested at three hotels within Disney World, including Disney’s BoardWalk Resort and Disney’s Yacht & Beach Club Resorts.

Unlike your typical Lyft service, however, these vans are driven by Disney employees, not your average Joe looking for a few extra bucks. Also, they’re only available between 6:30 a.m. and 12:30 a.m..

According to MarketWatch, Disney chose to work with Lyft because of its “popularity and well-established user base.” But it’s hard to ignore Uber’s embattled CEO, who recently resigned on the heels of some serious PR disasters, including being caught on camera being a douche to one of his own drivers.

“As we know, Uber is having some internal problems,” Dennis Speigel, president of International Theme Park Services, told MarketWatch. “And when you think of a wholesome, family-oriented company, you think of Disney.” However, guests can still use Uber at Disney World — it’s just not part of the Minnie van service.

Lyft is having a great summer so far: In July, the ride share company launched a test program with Taco Bell providing passengers with a drive-through option. And more recently, they teamed up with Amtrak “to help close the gap between public transit and your doorstep.”

Did This Insurance Company Say Kanye’s Weed Use Led To Breakdown?

Kanye West’s Saint Pablo tour ended in troubling fashion. The tour, which was divided into two parts, had its final show in Sacramento, where Kanye ended the performance short after confounding comments regarding Jay-Z, Beyoncé, and Hillary Clinton. Following the incident, the tour was canceled while Kanye underwent hospitalization, reportedly due to exhaustion and other mental illness.

Fortunately his Very Good Touring company had insured the tour through Lloyd’s of London, which specializes in insuring unusual risks. As tours are costly enterprises, many high-profile artists will insure their performances through Lloyd’s should they be canceled.

But now Kanye and his company have filed a $10 million lawsuit against Lloyd’s, stating that the insurers have stalled in paying out claims. Two days following Kanye’s hospitalization his company filed a claim, yet they have not been paid eight months later.

“Nor have they provided anything approaching a coherent explanation about why they have not paid, or any indication if they will ever pay or even make a coverage decision, implying that Kanye’s use of marijuana may provide them with a basis to deny the claim and retain the hundreds of thousands of dollars in insurance premiums paid by Very Good,” the complaint states.

According to reports, Kanye’s mental illness causing the tour’s cancellation should be covered under their agreement with Lloyd’s. His breakdown was predicated by the wake from his wife Kim Kardashian’s Paris robbery. Following the incident, Kanye had altered his prescriptions in some way. It is unclear whether he went off his prescriptions or began taking more.

But Lloyd’s, as the lawsuit alleges, is blaming cannabis usage as the culprit in Kanye’s mental breakdown. The insurance company is suggesting “that they may deny coverage of the claim on the unsupportable contention that use of marijuana by Kanye caused the medical condition” which eventually led to tour’s cancellation.

The lawsuit also alleges that the company planted stories in the media that involved Kanye’s “personal and private information” to deter Very Good from filing its rightful claims.

Only 1 in 20,000 marijuana users are at risk of experiencing psychosis from consuming cannabis, as a recent UK report revealed. That figure is substantially lower than once presumed to be.

According to the lawsuit, Kanye submitted to medical examination and multiple investigative demands from Lloyd’s.

Gossip: Usher Accuser Quantasia Sharpton Might Just Be a Scammer; These ‘Game Of Thrones’ Costumes Are Actually Made From IKEA Rugs

One of Usher’s accusers, Quantasia Sharpton, shared on Facebook that she needed money just a week before filing her STD lawsuit.

She also goes by the name Angel Valentino on social media.

Could she be a scammer? The internet has done some digging and the evidence points to ‘yes.’

Shortly after her press conference, Quantasia joined friends for a video chat and among the topics discussed was how she has a history of finessing celebrities. Her friends brought up August Alsina, Kirko Bangz, fake children, and even a fake cancer diagnosis.

There are rumors that she also goes by the name Quantaise Owens and that she publicly accused August Alsina of fathering her child.

These ‘Game Of Thrones’ Costumes Are Actually Made From IKEA Rugs

BuzzFeed reports that in a talk given by “Game of Thrones” costumer Michele Clapton last year at The Getty Museum in Los Angeles, she completely told everyone how the sausage gets made.

It took a whole year for anyone to notice, because it’s buried in about an hour and a half of Middle Ages costume-wear chat, but at about minute 27, Clapton explains that the men of the night’s watch are all wearing Ikea rugs.

Love the fresh dirt we bring over daily from Naughty Gossip? Let us know in the comments!

Jeff Sessions Likely To Ignore His Own Task Force Regarding Marijuana

Back in February, when Jeff Sessions first assembled his hand-picked Task Force on Crime Reduction and Public Safety, it seemed definite that he was readying himself for a state level crackdown of epic proportions.

Then the results came in.

Sessions’ own team of experts recommended staying the course (for now) with states’ rights and pot laws. Sadly, Sessions just doesn’t want to hear that message. Admittedly, it was a surprising message, for Sessions and thrilled marijuana lobbyists. However, that thrill may be gone before long. Though Sessions’ initial idea for a launch party may have gone awry, the rockets still fueled up and ready to go.

The task force gave Sessions results as they came in, so he’s known about their tame nature for weeks or longer. Yet still he’s been devising plans to crack down on states that have voted in full legalization.

In 2013, under the Obama administration, the “Cole memo” was released. Author Deputy Attorney General James M. Cole at that time directed federal agencies not to crack down on cannabis growers, purveyors or edibles makers if they were in full compliance with the law. The DOJ mostly kept to said memo and more states legalized, most people stayed within regulations to stay in business and cannabis flourished.

Now, in a Q&A with reporters on Wednesday, though he admitted not sentences before that much of the Cole memo is valid, Sessions said regarding his belief about cannabis, “I realize this may be an unfashionable belief in a time of growing tolerance of drug use.  But too many lives are at stake to worry about being fashionable. I reject the idea that America will be a better place if marijuana is sold in every corner store. And I am astonished to hear people suggest that we can solve our heroin crisis by legalizing marijuana – so people can trade one life-wrecking dependency for another that’s only slightly less awful. Our nation needs to say clearly once again that using drugs will destroy your life.”

All in all, it sounds like “compliance” is about to be the hot word in every legal state. Though during the same Q&A Sessions stated that he would only make slight modifications to the Cole memo, he did say he would modify it according to his own ideas, and his ideas belong in the early to mid-twentieth century. Unfortunately, his beliefs are steadfast. If his own task force couldn’t convince him to leave cannabis alone, his ears and heart are likely closed to the idea and legal states might have more to worry about than previously hoped.

How Does Marijuana Affect Binge Eating Disorder?

We all know that smoking marijuana gives you the munchies, which makes us want to eat. A lot. It’s because THC in the plant  increases our appetite. Binge eating disorder is the most common eating disorder in the US, effecting men and woman of all ages. It’s characterized by a lack of control over food. Binge eating sufferers are prone to anxiety, obesity, depression and stress. 

Since marijuana has proven to increase appetite, a lot of people wonder if it can lead to the development of this disorder, but scientific studies suggest that the reverse is the most likely outcome. Research claims that people who suffer from binge eating disorders are more vulnerable and willing to expose themselves to drugs and other substances. Victims from binge eating disorder tend to struggle with other illnesses like obesity and depression, all of which make people more willing to turn to drugs and substance abuse. 

It’s important to recognize the difference between binge eating disorder and overeating because you have the munchies. Binge eating is an illness that’s accompanied with a lot of other symptoms. If you’re gaining weight because of the munchies that marijuana causes, then you must decrease the amount of cannabis you smoke and find other ways to cope with your situation.

5 Possible Jaime Lannister Fates After ‘The Spoils Of War’

Jaime Lannister thought he was Tom Brady. That’s the honest explanation I can muster in explaining why Jamie, in Sunday’s “Game of Thrones,” would attack a Queen and her dragon with a lance and his horse. The Lannister Army down 28-3 (probably more 28000-3 if we’re being honest), Jaime really thought he could lead a comeback of epic proportions with that Hail Mary charge.

But war isn’t football. War is hell. And with dragons involved, that mantra is rendered quite exactly—if extra crispy soldiers shrieking amidst flame-soaked, hopeless battlegrounds doesn’t resemble a literal hellscape, then what does? Watch again closely prior to Jamie’s romantically doomed charge.

Director Matt Shakman cuts multiple times from Jamie’s perspective to Lannister soldiers shrieking wildly, their skin disintegrating and heads rolling. Following another fire-blazing attack from Daenerys Targaryen and Drogon, more Lannister men vanish. As their bodies dissolves to ash in the background, the camera zooms focus to Jaime in the foreground, a pained witness to this death and destruction.

I’ve always sort of viewed Jaime as “Game of Thrones’” most tragic character, trapped between everyone’s expectations (including his own) about him and the reality of who he is. He saves untold numbers of people from the Mad King, who plans to burn King’s Landing to the ground, only to be derisively mocked as the “Kingslayer,” his honor tarnished. His princess, his true love, is his sister, so he must sneak and skulk behind closed doors with that love. His children call him “Uncle.”

His narrative arc is a twisted perversion of everything we expect out of a classic knight’s tale. With his arm severed, he lost even that final piece of identity he could know and cling to, that part of him that could instill good into his bleak world. Taking cues from Jaime’s father and sister, Olenna Tyrell manipulates Jaime’s desire toward goodness at his least suspecting, informing him it was she who poisoned Joffrey, his son. She delivers Jaime this parting shot after he ensured her death would be painless, which was an entirely unnecessary gesture.

So again: Was Jaime’s heroically misguided charge idiotic, stupid, doltish, and batshit insane? 1000 percent yes! Yet every emotional motivation propels his attack forward. What has Jaime left to lose? Not much, except his life. It echoes a similar predicament back in Season 2 and the Battle of the Whispering Wood. The Lannister army defeated by the Stark-Tully alliance, Jaime cuts through numerous soldiers to reach Robb Stark and kill the King of the North, believing it will end the war.

His impulse is the same when he rides to deliver the foolish killshot on Dany. Here too is another perversion of the classic knight in fantasy tales: The knight always confronts the dragon to save the princess, but Jaime challenges a dragon to kill the Queen. His reward? Death. Or perhaps it should’ve been, if not for a last-minute save from someone we can only suspect to be Bronn.

Our final image of Jaime instead is him submerging downward, slipping to…well what exactly? Jaime’s fate hangs on everyone’s minds following “The Spoils of War,” one of the series’ best episodes. So what will happen to Jaime? We had some ideas.

Drowning (Water)

Bust down, Jaime’s drowning. His armor pulling him into a seeming abyss, the Kingslayer disappears from existence, dead. A poetic ending sure: He perished while committing one last honorable act.

But this is the most boring narrative choice and therefore the least plausible direction. It would go down as the lamest cliffhanger in television history. Don’t count on it.

Drogon Snack

Jaime collects himself and swims upward, breaking the surface. Daenerys awaits, assuming Jaime was capable of saving himself. Proven correct, she delivers a super dramatic speech about betrayal and how she is the only Queen, not Cersei. Then to prove her point, she’ll allow Drogon to eat Jaime as a snack since her little dragon was such a good boy in burning all those people.

But this is too funny for such a beloved character so nope.

Bronn Bash

Assuming Bronn saved Jaime, everyone’s favorite sellsword does so again and pulls Jaime underwater to safety. When they surface, Dany’s army has retreated and only charred bodies remain. Bronn locates the gold he dropped earlier, and convinces Jaime to flee because, as Bronn would say, “Fook thisss.” The pair forget the war, buy a brothel, and party until their end of days.

If this happens, it would become the most successful of HBO’s Game of Thrones spin-offs. It would set a new record for gratuitous nudity in an HBO series, yet no one would complain.

Imprisonment

Echoing his capture in Season 2 to Robb Stark, Jaime is rescued and becomes a prisoner to Daenerys. Though apologies are offered, Jaime and Tyrion experience some awkward, terse moments. Jaime refuses to forgive his brother, until he learns Cersei won’t make any concessions to save Jaime.

This narrative choice is clever enough to satisfy fans. Since this season has become openly fan-service-y, this is the safest prediction.

“Mer-Man!”

Jaime falls into the aforementioned abyss only to be saved by a beautiful and seductive mermaid. He discovers a secret underwater world exists in Westeros and because of his golden arm, they revere him. The mermaid who saves him is their Queen and wants to wed him, but Jaime is more interested in her sister, because that’s his thing. Improbably it works out, and Jaime earns true happiness.

This will definitely happen.

5 Ways Cory Booker’s Marijuana Bill Could Change Everything

This week, New Jersey Senator Cory Booker, sponsored the Marijuana Justice Act of 2017. Without question, this is the most progressive piece of marijuana-related legislation ever filed in the United States Congress. 

It goes far beyond the popular Rohrabacher-Blumenauer legislation that protects medical marijuana users and producers from federal prosecution. It’s broader than the medical marijuana-based CARERS Act, which Booker is also a sponsor, in that it extends to include adult-use marijuana. It goes further than de-scheduling legislation filed by Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, when he dramatically shifted his position on marijuana during his failed presidential bid last year.

Let’s go through what this bill seeks to do and then analyze it a bit. 

The bill has five key policy goals.

1. Legalizing At A National Level

First, the bill removes marijuana from the list of controlled substances, effectively legalizing it at the national level. This move is often referred to as “descheduling,” and while others have proposed such a move in this Congress and in previous Congresses, it has not gained traction. In fact, efforts to reschedule marijuana from the highest level of control—Schedule I—to the next highest level of control—Schedule II—has also failed to pass.

2. Reduce Prison Construction

Second, the bill reduces prison construction and other law enforcement federal funding to states that show racial and economic bias in arrest and incarceration rates around marijuana. This bill starts from the understanding that marijuana use among races and economic groups are about at parity, but arrest and incarceration rates for people of color and the economically disadvantaged are significantly higher. This effort seeks to use a carrot—rather than a stick—to change behaviors in states.

3. Expunges Previous Convictions

Third, the bill expunges convictions for those with marijuana use and/or possession charges at the federal level and allows those facing sentencing to be considered for lighter sentences. Here, Booker seeks to help those with marijuana offenses have greater access to education, economic opportunity and social mobility, which are often limited for those with criminal records.  

 4. Protections Against Racial Bias

Fourth, it gives an individual a cause of action against states that have disproportionate marijuana arrest and incarceration rates for racial and economic minorities. So, what does that mean? Under this bill, if a state has bias in its arrest and incarceration rates for marijuana offenses, someone convicted of a marijuana offense at the state-level can sue that state in federal court for relief. In many ways, this serves as a backup if the threat of federal funding losses does not change state-level behavior.  

5. More Funds For Community Programs

Finally, money withheld from states under the second part of this bill, is deposited into a Community Reinvestment Fund to assist compliant states with job training, legal assistance, libraries, youth programs and more. 

 So, let’s analyze this bill a bit. The Marijuana Justice Act of 2017 is a conversation starter, and it will get the creative juices flowing at the federal level. It is not, however, a solution for the types of problems Senator Booker is engaging.  

The bill recognizes racial and economic injustice that exists in the criminal justice system and seeks to treat marijuana in the way a majority of the general public wants it treated: as a legal substance.   

However, the legislation also leaves many questions unanswered. Will the federal government play a regulatory role? How will the federal government fill the interim void between federal legalization and states passing their own regulatory frameworks? Which marijuana offenses will qualify for expungement and under what other conditions will expungement be considered? 

 The bill offers the administration significant discretion, leeway, and authority to implement the law. For Senator Booker, the idea of allowing the Trump administration and the Sessions Justice Department wiggle room on legalizing marijuana or advancing racial justice may not be exactly what he’s bargaining for in this legislation.  

 All that said, Senator Booker knows this bill will not pass. What he is doing, however, is showing leadership an issue that often lacks an authoritative, national-level voice. The Marijuana Justice Act may not move Senators in 2017, but I bet Senator Booker is hoping it moves voters in 2020.  

Is 16K Gaming A Future Reality Or Silly Internet Experiment?

Serious gamers obsess over graphics. During the past decade an arms race has not-so-secretly brewed across platforms for who can produce the clearest and crispest image. Microsoft and Sony have battled with one another trying to best the other, but is 16K gaming the future?

Sony debuted 4K gaming with the PS4 Pro model late last year, beating Microsoft to the visual punch. But Microsoft announced the Xbox One X at E3 this year, with a model that Xbox head Phil Spencer says in “a different league” than Sony’s platform. Opinions aside, that each company is able to offer 4K gaming at a price point below $500 is a massive achievement.

But in the PC gaming world, Sony and Microsoft’s visual prowess is plain weaksauce. Because if you really care about graphics—like really, really care—nothing compares to the visual fidelity available to PC gamers. Thanks to constantly evolving graphics cards and the ability to always upgrade your computer, PC gamers will always hold the upper hand against console gamers—though this comes at a cost. A true 4K gaming computer will easily cost you more than $1,000.

Why stop at 4K, though? That’s the challenge YouTuber Linus Sebastian took upon himself. Instead of just 4K gaming, Linus showcased the ability to play games in 16K resolution—an absolutely bonkers number. Posting the video on his popular Linus Tech Tips channel, Linus constructed a gig with 16 4K monitors all working in sync with one another. He played games like Minecraft, Tomb Raider, and Civilization on his contraption that more resembled the setup of an evil genius hacker than an avid gamer.

While a 16-screen rig is a huge feat, multi-screen setups for PC gaming isn’t exactly new. Super powerful graphics cards begin supporting three-screen setups in the early 2010s, enabling gamers to see, well, everything. Though not all games supported this output, it was a huge evolutionary trend forward. Still, 16 4K screens smokes all that comparatively, even if it is ridiculous (albeit in a great way).

You might wonder the purpose of it all, though. Most of the games Linus attempted to play at 16K resolution rendered slowly or outright crashed. At best the games that did work produced minor lag. If you were seriously trying to game, this setup would kind of suck.

Yet that isn’t the right approach, is it? No one knew 16K gaming was remotely a possibility until this week. Criticizing the games failing is an extremely limited and lazy view here; developers wouldn’t code their games to support such graphics because developers didn’t know anyone was wacky and crazy enough to attempt it. What this is about instead is opportunity. Could this be a possible future of gaming? Perhaps.

It reminds me of Kanye West, of all people. Back in 2012, he debuted a film called Cruel Summer at Cannes. Written and directed by Kanye, the film was shown with a seven-screen setup: three up front, one on the floor, one on the ceiling, and one each adorning the walls. The movie was lauded by critics, lavishing praise that Kanye’s seven-screen movie theater could be a revolutionary step forward for film. As the Los Angeles Times noted, Kanye’s movie “makes a 3-D Michael Bay effort feel like an iPad short.”

As you know, that filmic revolution hasn’t exactly happened. Seven-screen movie theaters aren’t available anywhere because it’s not an affordable venture. What movies could be shown except Kanye’s? I mean, who else would be ludicrous and bold enough to even attempt something like that?

You can’t help asking a similar question about Linus’s 16K resolution experiment. It isn’t really meant to work in the traditional way technology does. Instead view it as a fun challenge intended to inspire future inventions down the road. The possible total immersive capabilities is tantalizing for the next generation—just don’t expect to see 16K games or monitor setups anytime soon. For now, though, it’s enough just to dare to dream.

Gossip: Beyonce’s Dad Has Not Met The Twins; Elon Musk Allegedly Dumped ‘Manipulative & Selfish’ Amber Heard

Beyonce has still not introduced her new twins to her father Matthew Knowles

The superstar gave birth to her twins, Sir and Rumi, on July 14 but so far she and husband Jay-Z, 47, have not invited her father Matthew to meet them.

A source told RadarOnline.com: “Matthew has not met the twins in person yet.”

Elon Musk Allegedly Dumped ‘Manipulative & Selfish’ Amber Heard

Her marriage to Pirates Of The Caribbean star Johnny Depp infamously imploded when she accused him of beating her up. And it appears actress Amber Heard has been unlucky in love yet again, after being dumped by her billionaire boyfriend.

Heard, 31, is ‘devastated’ after tech tycoon Elon Musk ended their year-long romance. Last night a source told The Mail on Sunday: ‘It’s all over between Amber and Elon and she’s devastated. It was his decision. He ended it a week ago. He’d heard certain things about her behavior that didn’t sit well with him. Amber can be very manipulative and selfish. Elon’s back in LA while she’s licking her wounds in Australia.’

Musk, 46, worth a reported £12 billion, made his first fortune as co-founder of online service PayPal. The creator of electric car giant Tesla and private space company SpaceX, he was spotted with Heard in Australia in April where she is filming the £100 million superhero movie Aquaman and was said to have put his private jet at her disposal. Their romance began shortly after South African-born Musk divorced British actress Talulah Riley for a second time last year.

The Fresh Toast Legislative Roundup: August 7

Most of the news about marijuana legislation last week emanated from the nation’s capital with Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) introducing major reform legislation. Attorney General Jeff Sessions also floated a trial balloon suggesting increased federal interference with state laws. Meanwhile in Texas, a new medical marijuana bill was proposed.

National:

On Tuesday, Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) introduced a comprehensive marijuana reform bill in the U.S. Senate. The Marijuana Justice Act would remove cannabis from the list of federally controlled substances, effectively making the plant legal at the federal level. Federal convictions for marijuana use and possession would be expunged, and those currently serving time for such offenses would be able to petition the court for resentencing.

Federal funds would be used to create incentives for states to legalize recreational cannabis, and funding would be withheld for prison construction and staffing in states with disproportionately high minority arrest rates for marijuana possession. The Act would also create an investment fund for communities that have been hard hit by the War on Drugs, providing grants for library construction, health education, and a variety of other areas. The bill is unlikely to pass in the Republican-controlled Senate, but comes amid speculation that Booker is planning a presidential run in 2020.

Last week, it was also revealed that Attorney General Jeff Sessions had sent letters to the governors of Washington and Colorado, expressing concerns over the efficacy of state marijuana regulation. Officials in Washington dismissed the letter addressed to Governor Jay Inslee, stating that Sessions relied in part on outdated information from a 2016 federal report on the state’s largely unregulated medical marijuana system, which it blamed for the growth of the state’s black market for cannabis.

Since the release of the 2016 report Washington’s medical cannabis system has been brought into line with the robust recreational regulatory structure. The letter to Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper was likewise based on a 2016 Rocky Mountain High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area report, which claimed that Colorado-grown marijuana was turning up in bordering states and that cannabis-related traffic fatalities had increased significantly since legalization.

Some fear that the letters could foreshadow a federal crackdown on states that have legalized recreational marijuana, which remains illegal at the federal level. Sessions has expressed heavy skepticism over state legalization efforts, though he has largely left the Obama administration’s hands-off policy intact thus far.

Texas:

On Friday, a bill was introduced in the Texas Senate to expand access to medical marijuana in the state. Currently, only patients suffering from severe forms of epilepsy are allowed to be treated with cannabis. S.B. 79 would provide patients with PTSD, traumatic brain injury, cancer, and other “debilitating conditions” access to medical marijuana. Another, more comprehensive medical marijuana bill failed earlier in the session despite an unprecedented level of support.

Don't Miss Your Weekly Dose of The Fresh Toast.

Stay informed with exclusive news briefs delivered directly to your inbox every Friday.

We respect your privacy. Unsubscribe anytime.