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August is the Sunday of Summer so, naturally, everyone and their cousin are away on a vacation to visit an obscure relative or go to their college roommate’s wedding, or avoid working. Most of these are valid. Get in your vacation now before hibernation begins. But with travel comes fees, and with fees come those who do not wish to pay them (everyone). Enter: Skiplagging.

No, skiplagging isn’t the practice of reloading a YouTube video to avoid a laggy ad, though it sure sounds like it. It’s the new trend where flyers buy a connecting flight somewhere with the intention of not completing the second part of the trip. For example, flying from Missoula to Denver might cost you $500, but if you book a connecting flight from Missoula to Salt Lake City that stops in Denver could cost you around $250. Thrifty, right? It’s been saving people hundreds, even though it’s also not really allowed.

The practice of Skiplagging has become popular this summer, though airlines are starting to pick up on the trend and deny boarding to anyone who might intend to do such a thing. While the act isn’t illegal, it could lead airlines to ban travelers from their service, leaving them stranded with no complementary pretzels or ginger ale.

“If a customer knowingly or unknowingly purchases a ticket and doesn’t fly all of the segments in their itinerary, it can lead to operational issues with checked bags and prevent other customers from booking a seat when they may have an urgent need to travel,” American Airlines said in a statement. “Intentionally creating an empty seat that could have been used by another customer or team member is an all-around bad outcome.”

Are people still doing it? Yup! There is a whole site, Skiplagged.com, dedicated to finding “ridiculous travel deals.” American Airlines filed a civil lawsuit earlier this month against the site, accusing it of using “unauthorized and deceptive ticketing practices.” While other airlines haven’t threatened legal action, you probably don’t want to get on Jet Blue’ bad side. You would never be able to eat Terra chips again.

(Via Today)

Ted Cruz fell for one of the oldest hoaxes in the book.

As Tropical Storm Hilary rolled into southern California, bringing with it flash floods and record-setting rain totals, Barstool‘s Dan Katz wrote on Twitter, “Friend of mine out in LA just took this picture on the 405. And yes, all news and media outlets you have permission to use this. Wild.” The tweet also included an obviously fake photo of a shark swimming down the highway… and the rare double community note.

One reads, “The photograph is a digital hoax. The image of the shark was lifted from a 2005 photograph of a kayaker being trailed by a great white shark and pasted into a photograph of a flooded street,” while the other notes, “The photo originally appeared in 2011, after Hurricane Irene hit Puerto Rico. The hoax also made the rounds in 2015 after Texas was hit with heavy rains, in 2016 during Hurricane Matthew and again in 2017 after Hurricane Harvey.”

“Hurricane Shark” has gone viral enough times that it has a Know Your Meme page. But instead of two seconds of research, Ted Cruz shared the tweet with his millions of followers. “Holy crap,” the senator quote-tweeted. Cruz later tried to take it back in a follow up (“I’m told this is a joke. In LA, you never know,” he wrote, whatever that means), but for someone so Extremely Online, he should know better. The only explanation I can think for why Cruz fell for the obvious hoax is because he’s been busy looking at other images online.

Last week, Mike Lindell held his “Election Crime Bureau Summit” after promising that the event would be a bipartisan love fest that would “save our country” by guaranteeing the security of America’s future election. Instead, the MyPillow CEO delivered an event that predictably devolved into MAGA conspiracy theories about the 2020 election, and at one point, featured Steve Bannon telling the crowd to do a January 6 on Georgia officials.

As for Lindell’s bold, new election fraud plan that has never been done before: drones. That was his big play, and he’s already walking back.

As reported by The Daily Beast, states, local municipalities, and the FAA all have strict laws about the use of drones, which would make it very illegal to just fly one up to a polling place to see if China is manipulating votes or whatever:

Flying a drone within 15 miles of Washington, D.C.’s inner ring can land you in jail for 90 days. Other cities like New York have their own anti-drone laws on the books, and drones are prohibited within five miles of airports.

On Thursday, Lindell was aware of at least some technology laws. He said he would have demonstrated his [wireless monitoring device] on real voting machines, but that he worried he might face legal risk.

While appearing on Charlie Kirk’s podcast on Monday, Lindell wanted to set the record straight that his WMDs would not be used on drones despite him demonstrating the device to his Election Summit audience by using a drone.

“These are not drones, everybody. We brought it in on a drone just for effect and to make it kind of cool, bringing it in all the excitement,” Lindell told Kirk via Raw Story. “The drones have nothing to do with it. So it is legal, believe me, we’ve had our legal team on this for over a year. And it’s just, it’s like radio waves are capturing it.”

(Via Raw Story, The Daily Beast)

The Got Sole sneaker convention went down in New York City this past weekend, and Meek Mill was on hand looking to score some new footwear. One of his pickups in particular drew some attention, but because of how the transaction went.

In a video, Meek is seen discussing a pair of “Pine Green” Nike SB x Air Jordan 4’s with a reseller (as Complex notes). Currently, pairs of the shoe are available for around $300 per pair on StockX, depending on the size, but the reseller priced theirs at $500. (While writing this post, though, the most recently sold pair on StockX went for $517.)

Meek took exception to the pricing, but ultimately bought the shoes. He said, “I could buy these at the store right now for $300. You want $500? That’s a bad move. I’m going to buy them from you, but that’s a bad sell. You’re supposed to give it to Meek Mill for the low, get the commercial: Boom, I might come back and buy more, you know? […] Now I’m going to go to the next table and I might spend $5,000.”

Some people didn’t love Meek bringing his celebrity status into the equation, and the whole ordeal made Meek one of the top trending topics on X (formerly Twitter) today (August 21). One user wrote, “Well he got the publicity and the sale at his price. I understand what Meek is saying but it’s also predatory. He’s trying to strong arm him for a lower price, when he can clearly afford the price that’s being offered. Plus the price is on par for what others are charging.”

Somebody else tweeted, “First off this isn’t schooling. Your price is your price. I bet if he go to LV they making him pay and there isn’t any discounts. And they gladly pay it. Ain’t nobody trying to get no weak free promotion at all. Stand your ground on your price. Either buy it or move on.”

Some folks took Meek’s side, though, like one person who wrote, “Hustling backwards… Should have gave Meek that pair and an additional one for the $500. Sure you take the loss upfront but now you’re locked in as Meek’s shoe plug and can supply him and his team with all the sneakers they will need.” Somebody else responded, “He got the $500 and i seen this video so free publicity [crying laughing emoji].”

Meek Mill is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

(Spoilers from the Sex And The City revival will be found below.)

When it comes to And Just Like That…, I’ve been watching the chatter on social media and in forums, and yikes. Che Diaz is out there sparking strong feelings again. People are also holding that character to standards that would never fly for Carrie and Miranda, who have been rather terrible to people over the years, too. Miranda is also now unrecognizable from her old badass self, and even though this revival’s writers must have watched the original show, it sometimes feels like they’ve forgotten what made SATC enjoyable.

Look, I know that there’s some lingering sentimentality out there for the original characters, but this show has long since passed the point it should be taken seriously or infuriate us. And at this point, I’m only rooting for Steve Brady and Charlotte York Goldenblatt. (Oh boy, Charlotte? I cackled after her tipsy “I was a person before all of you!” speech to Harry, their kids, and their learned helplessness. And she sold a painting to Sam Smith, so good on her.)

The vast majority of these characters, however, can stuff it. Sex And The City was at least a confection, but And Just Like That… is a buffet of selfishness. These characters are buried so far into their self-involved navels, and Che Diaz is catching the brunt of the ire? I have to wonder if that’s the case because Che was, by the “logic” of this spinoff, supposed to be representative of the LGBTQA+ community. Yet in a show like this, it’s kind-of an unrealistic expectation to ask any member of a marginalized community to deliver a nuanced portrayal. That’s simply not how this series works.

After last week, however, I was at least entertained by knowing that the abrasive spirit of Che is still alive. After the writers shoehorned them into a miserable LTR with Miranda — it was never going to work out, and that had nothing to do with sexuality — Che is finally free to be Che. The writers actually did something interesting, too. Che had failed at moving from being an aggressively bad standup comic to take a shot at a network comedy. That pilot didn’t even make it to air, and Che had broken up with Miranda, and suddenly, Che became many different things, including a lover of animals.

See, that’s cute. Still, people found them insufferable, and then the show doubled down on Che being this show’s version of Satan. Che also wore this Kendall Roy Gucci jacket during their return to the comedy stage. Coincidence?

The standup set led to the return of Villain Che, who was the crowning touch of the first season’s horror-show vibe, even more so than Mr. Big’s Peloton and the projectile vomiting. As a returning comedian — and remember, Che has never been funny, so why start now? — they cracked jokes about dating (the mortified and watching) Miranda that included the following: “She was confused about everything, and I was confused about why I was f*cking her.”

Again, not amusing at all, but I’m not exactly sure what Miranda expected to see while showing up unannounced at Che’s first show after their split. That’s especially the case because Miranda tends to completely ignore that her exes exist and even avoids mutual-friend situations. Che didn’t expect Miranda to care at all, and comedians tend to use negative personal experiences for material. That’s what comics do. Granted, I’m not excusing Che’s bad jokes, but Che never named Miranda during her set, and Miranda shouldn’t have expected butterflies and roses simply because she showed up.

Furthermore, I am more than ready to see Che move back into tearing this show’s little world apart. They’re not exactly an agent of chaos, but they are a reality check because And Just Like That… has made several cringeworthy attempts at inclusivity. Most of them are not great efforts, especially when it comes to Nya, who now only sits in her apartment revenge-buying expensive gifts for her ex’s impending baby. Lisa and Seema are likewise one-dimensional, but Che? Che may not be funny, but they are fun. The backlash to their profound unlikeability actually made me like them, in a way.

Che Diaz dared to be more than a mere prop and a token of inclusivity, which — let’s face it — is what this revival is doing with its new characters. Granted, Che’s villainy isn’t nearly as spectacular as The Gays on The White Lotus, but I’ll take what I can get with And Just Like That…. Furthermore, Che is overall much more palatable when she’s not with Miranda. Those two were miserable together with personalities that clashed 9 moments out of 10. Miranda also deserved to be taken down a few pegs by someone, and I am fine with it being Che who did it. If they decide to end the season by throwing all of Carrie’s Manolo Blahniks into a dumpster, I wouldn’t be mad at that, either.

Finally, let’s do some bullets on the disappointments of this season:

— The show decided to write off the late Willie Garson’s Stanford Blatch by having him run away to be a Shinto monk. And because they couldn’t just let that sentence hang in the air, so the wind could sweep it away, they even photoshopped a grinning Stanford in front of a monastery. This, apparently, was actually a move in service of Anthony’s plot, so that he could be motivated to also let go of his “worldly possession” of always being the “top” in gay relationships. They had to disrespect Stanford in order to inspire Anthony to get into the idea of being penetrated? I guess so.

— Miranda isn’t even a shadow of who she used to be. She has long since quit her job as a law firm partner. She dumped Steve, essentially for being embarrassing. She fawned over Che and became a simpering hanger on, and when she finally decided to work again, Miranda interned at the U.N. and dumbed herself down because she wanted everyone to like her. Ugh.

— Carrie outwardly questioned whether “Big was a big mistake” (which even freaked out Miranda) and she’s decided to throw herself back into this Aidan thing despite two shattering breakups in the past. The show heads into the season finale with Aidan devastated because his son got drunk and wrapped his truck around a tree, and all Carrie can do is wonder what this means for her. Because she sold her Carrie apartment to buy a “palatial” new pad with Big’s money, so she and Aidan could inevitably start irritating each other again.

— Oh, and the Real Samantha is “back.” She’s making her phone call to Carrie next week. If someone wants to edit that out of the season finale ahead of time, that would be cool. (Samantha, you don’t need this mess in your life.)

I’ll close by reiterating that it’s simply not worth it to get upset about And Just Like That…. However, I’m pleased that Steve is thriving. He’s set up a new bar on Coney Island, and he’s gonna sell clams. Dude is happy. Let him be that way. Also, let Che be The Villain.

HBO Max’s ‘And Just Like That’ will stream its season finale on Aug. 24.

Talk to Me is closing in on the top five of A24‘s highest-grossing movies ever. The indie horror hit from directors Danny and Michael Philippou is up to $46.1 million (that’s 10 times its budget), placing it behind only Everything Everywhere All At Once, Hereditary, Lady Bird, Moonlight, Uncut Gems, and Midsommar. Talk to Me will make even more money once it gets a physical media release in time for Halloween.

Bloody Disgusting reports that Talk to Me will come out on 4K and Blu-ray on October 3. There’s no digital release yet, but it will probably come “some time in late September.”

“It’s been our dream since we were little kids,” Michael Philippou, who got his start with his brother making YouTube videos about porn star bathwater (among other topics), told us about making a movie. “Film and television’s always been our overall goal. And when growing up, we didn’t want to be YouTubers. That was never a thing. We wanted to be filmmakers. YouTube we just fell into. So it was so quick to gain traction and all so much fun and you see progress straight away. You see subscribers.” But movies, Danny added, are “more rewarding… That whole entire experience of collaborating with all these masters of their craft and everyone putting all their creative energies into this one big product, is the most incredible feeling in the world.”

You can watch the trailer for Talk to Me below.

(Via Bloody Disgusting)

When Ronan Farrow decides to bury himself in a subject, this usually doesn’t signal that positive news is on the way. Sure enough, Farrow’s latest investigative report has surfaced for The New Yorker, and it’s all about Elon Musk’s hands not only being in many pots but also in many U.S. government matters. Musk, of course, is even better known for his newest role of Twitter Owner/Chief Troll and being a bad neighbor. Oh, and he recently blew up a rocket, which is apparently something that does not worry him at all according to Farrow’s reporting, much of which involves direct statements from former Under-Secretary Of Defense At The Pentagon Colin Kahl.

More immediately crucial, however, is Farrow’s reporting on Musk’s influence in the Ukraine/Russia war. Yes, it’s as disturbing as it sounds, especially since Musk is a civilian. Yet he is a civilian who is a billionaire and does a lot of exclusive business with the U.S. Department of Defense (SpaceX is the only active means for manned U.S. trips into space), and those ties include SpaceX’s Starlink satellite internet service. We’ve all heard of Starlink, of course, and vaguely heard about the difficulties that Ukraine has had with Elon wavering on whether to keep providing access to troops.

Yet the situation reportedly grew dire, according to an anonymous Ukraine soldier, known as “Mykola,” who was tasked with making sure that Starlink was operational on Ukraine front lines. Mykola called the service “essential” to the Ukraine cause, and he noted that after Musk started publicly hedging about the war and worrying about upsetting Russia, the access to Starlink mysteriously died during a critical operation within Ukraine. As Farrow leads into the section, he wrote that “Musk’s sympathies appeared to be manifesting on the battlefield.” Reportedly, Starlink access evaporated without warning, creating a deadly situation:

By then, . One day, Ukrainian forces advancing into contested areas in the south found themselves suddenly unable to communicate. “We were very close to the front line,” Mykola, the signal-corps soldier, told me. “We crossed this border and the Starlink stopped working.” The consequences were immediate. “Communications became dead, units were isolated. When you’re on offense, especially for commanders, you need a constant stream of information from battalions. Commanders had to drive to the battlefield to be in radio range, risking themselves,” Mykola said. “It was chaos.” Ukrainian expats who had raised funds for the Starlink units began receiving frantic calls. The tech executive recalls a Ukrainian military official telling him, “We need Elon now.” “How now?” he replied. “Like f*cking now,” the official said. “People are dying.”

Fixing the situation proved to be tricky, and the Pentagon found itself attempting to figure out how to get SpaceX to agree that Elon “couldn’t wake up one morning and just decide, like, he didn’t want to do this anymore.” Kahl spoke with Musk to thank him about providing the Starlink service thus far and asked for Elon to help come to an agreement because “[I]f you cut this off, it doesn’t end the war.” In response, Kahl reveals that he learned how Elon Musk (he of the poop emoji) had privately spoken with Vladimir Putin, and yikes:

To the dismay of Pentagon officials, Musk volunteered that he had spoken with Putin personally. Another individual told me that Musk had made the same assertion in the weeks before he tweeted his pro-Russia peace plan, and had said that his consultations with the Kremlin were regular. (Musk later denied having spoken with Putin about Ukraine.) On the phone, Musk said that he was looking at his laptop and could see “the entire war unfolding” through a map of Starlink activity. “This was, like, three minutes before he said, ‘Well, I had this great conversation with Putin,’ ” the senior defense official told me. “And we were, like, ‘Oh, dear, this is not good.’”

This was probably around the time that Elon was running a Twitter poll to gather public opinion on how to best end the Ukraine/Russia war, as though Putin had nothing to do with his own invasion. And yeah, this looks more than bad. Starlink eventually did come back online in Ukraine, but SpaceX placed restrictions on its use by Ukraine drones. And Putin’s war keeps raging on, even as the Russian ruble has been nosediving.

The full Ronan Farrow piece dives into many other ominous Elon-related subjects including AI and is well worth a read at The New Yorker.

(Via New Yorker)

The 2023 FIBA Men’s Basketball World Cup will get underway this Friday, August 25, with games being played in the Philippines, Japan, and Indonesia for this year’s event. As is the case at most every international basketball event, Team USA is the heavy favorite at -125 to win it all, but the Americans finished seventh at the 2019 World Cup (where Spain beat Argentina in the finals) and are bringing a young team without much of any international experience, meaning the outcome of this year’s tournament is far from a certainty.

As such, a number of teams have hopes of making a run at the World Cup crown, while plenty of others are looking to take a stride forward with the best result in their country’s recent basketball history. Group B features one tournament hopeful and three teams looking to enjoy a run to the knockout round, as Serbia has the sixth-best odds for winning the World Cup (+1400) and are heavy favorites to win the group, while Puerto Rico, China, and South Sudan are all looking to reach the knockout stage, with Puerto Rico the expected second team to advance (odds via DraftKings).

Serbia -2500
Puerto Rico +1200
China +2000
South Sudan +4000

Here we’ll look at some players to watch, the biggest game, and the full schedule for Group B.

Players to Watch

Kyle Anderson (China): Anderson is among the names NBA fans will be familiar with and might be surprised to see playing for a certain national team. Anderson’s great-grandfather was Chinese and thus allowed him to gain naturalized citizenship earlier this year — he’s the first naturalized basketball player to play for China. Anderson gives China some needed size on the wing and additional ball-handling as they look to get past the group stage the Timberwolves forward will get the chance to be the leading man.

Tremont Waters (Puerto Rico): The former second round pick of the Celtics now plays professionally in Puerto Rico and is that leading man for the national team. Waters has authored some big moments for Puerto Rico in the run-up to the tournament, including a buzzer-beater to take down Brazil during qualifying (and a 29-point outburst against Brazil a few games prior).

Waters scored 17 against Team USA during tune-up play (and had five steals), and if Puerto Rico is going to emerge from the group stage it is likely due to strong play from the small guard.

Bogdan Bogdanovic (Serbia): Serbia won’t have the services of their biggest star this summer, as Nikola Jokic sits out the World Cup after winning his first NBA title, but they still have some serious talent on the roster. Bogdan Bogdanovic headlines that group, as the Hawks wing will serve as Serbia’s top star in the World Cup. Bogdanovic scored 15 points and 14 points in Serbia’s exhibitions against Greece and Italy respectively earlier in the month and is their most dynamic perimeter threat. The World Cup will also be a chance for Bogdanovic to build back his confidence a bit after battling injuries recently in Atlanta, which could bode well for the Hawks if he can establish a rhythm overseas.

Nikola Jovic (Serbia): Joining Bogdanovic from the NBA on Serbia’s roster is Nikola Jovic, who is coming off of a rookie year in Miami where he played sparingly. For the Serbian squad, he takes on a bigger role and led the team with 18 points in the tune-up against Italy. Jovic has an intriguing mix of size (6’10) and skill, and with Jokic off the roster for the tournament, they’ll be looking for the collective group to step up and fill larger roles, giving Jovic a chance to have a real impact on how far the Serbian team can go.

Wenyen Gabriel (South Sudan): Gabriel is the biggest name suiting up for South Sudan this year, as the Lakers big man will bring some serious size and athleticism to the roster. Gabriel didn’t play in qualifiers or AfroBasket 2021, but should give the South Sudan squad a serious presence on the glass and a vertical spacing threat at the rim. He pairs with Marial Shayok in the backcourt as the players American basketball fans will be most familiar with, and will hope to lead South Sudan to a surprising performance in the group.

Schedule/TV Info (all times EST)

Aug. 26
South Sudan vs. Puerto Rico 4:00 a.m., ESPN+
Serbia vs. China, 8:00 a.m., ESPN+

Aug. 28
China vs. South Sudan, 4:00 a.m., ESPN+
Puerto Rico vs. Serbia, 8:00 a.m., ESPN+

Aug. 30
South Sudan vs. Serbia, 4:00 a.m., ESPN+
China vs. Puerto Rico, 8:00 a.m., ESPN+

Game to Watch

China vs. Puerto Rico: With Serbia as the heavy favorites, the focus in Group B is likely to be on who can be the second team to advance to the knockout stages. China and Puerto Rico’s game on August 30 could very well be a play-in game as the final game of the group, as they will each have played South Sudan and Serbia already, with the odds being they’ll both come in at 1-1. If that’s the case, it’ll be very interesting to see how this game shakes out. Puerto Rico will be the favorites, but in a one-game eliminator, China will certainly have a shooter’s chance at breaking their way through to the knockout rounds.

Taika Waititi reportedly has ideas for where to take Thor 5, and it all comes down to finding a worthy villain.

The Marvel director, who’s already tackled two installments in the series (Ragnarok and Love and Thunder), has not been officially attached to the fifth film, but a new book reveals that Waititi is ready should the time come. According to a passage from the upcoming Thor: Love and Thunder The Official Movie Special, Waititi wants to give the Norse god an opponent that has to be stronger than anything he’s faced before.

Via ScreenRant:

“What is left to do to him? It’s got to be something that feels like it’s carrying on with the evolution of the character, but still in a very fun way and still giving him things to come up against that feel like they’re building on the obstacles that he has to overcome. I don’t think we can have a villain that’s weaker than Hela. I feel like we need to step up from there and add a villain that’s somehow more formidable.”

Of course, there’s a big question mark around whether of Thor 5 will even happen and, with Waititi at the helm. Love and Thunder proved to be a divisive entry for fans, and Chris Hemsworth has expressed doubts about returning to the character. If the actor does do a fifth movie, he’s already signaled that it would have to be “drastically different” from his last two films with Waititi.

“I don’t know if I’m even invited back, but if I was, I think it would have to be a drastically different version in tone, everything, just for my own sanity,” Hemsworth told the Happy Sad Confused podcast with a laugh. “Thor lost his mind that last one. He’s got to figure it out now.”

(Via ScreenRant)

Having your first baby is a scary experience. Everything is new—you’ve quite literally never done this before—not to mention an entire human is going to be removed from your body one way or another. Childbirth, no matter how your baby leaves your body, is not for the weak. But imagine giving birth alone to not just one baby, but three, all at the same time. Then imagine doing that feat at the age of 14.

Shariya Small experienced that scenario in a hospital in Indiana, and her nurse Katrina Mullen took note. Small’s babies were premature, born at just 26 weeks, when the average gestation for triplets is 33 weeks, according to ReproductiveFacts.org. Due to their early birth, the babies, Serenitee, Samari and Sarayah, had to stay in the NICU at Community Hospital North in Indianapolis for more than five months, according to Today.com.

During their time in the NICU, Mullen noticed the young mom visited her babies alone, not appearing to have much of a support system. “She’d be there alone for days at a time sitting at her babies’ bedside,” Mullen told Today.com.

The pair got to know each other over the months that the babies were in the hospital, but Small continued to be reluctant to open up about her family life. That changed after she found out that Mullen had her first child at 16 and had given it up for adoption. Their experiences bonded the two moms, and Mullen began helping to care for the babies and Small by giving her advice and showing her how to properly care for the infants.

Eventually, Mullen gave Small her phone number before the babies were discharged from the hospital. It quickly became apparent that Small did not have a support system, as she called Mullen often asking for advice. Out of concern, the nurse went to visit Small an hour away, where she was living with a family member.

The condition of the home was concerning enough, but Mullen became even more worried when she saw how thin Small’s son Samari was. It turns out he had to be admitted to the hospital, which prompted a visit from Child Protective Services, who determined that Small and her three infants would need to enter foster care. She gave the social worker Mullen’s information and things began to fall into place.

Listen to Small and Mullen explain their unique story below:

This article originally appeared on 4.10.23