Zeros

Is Roblox Down? A Slightly Unhinged Investigation Hey!  I'm not saying I've refreshed the login scree n seventeen times in the last four minutes, but I'm also not not saying that. You know what I mean? Like when Sabrina Carpenter drops a surprise single at midnight, and Spotify crashes ? Except this is worse. So much worse. Because Roblox is DOWN, my friends . Or is it? Maybe it's just me. Maybe I'm the problem. Maybe I'm the drama. But probably not because I checked Twitter — sorry, I meant X —and everyone's losing their absolute minds!  Someone compared it to the great PlayStation Network outage of 2011 . Someone else said it's like when Ticketmaster crashed during the Eras Tour presale. Both valid references. Both were deeply traumatic. Here's the thing about being an adult who plays Roblox : you don't tell people . It's like admitting you still know all the words to What Makes You Beautiful . We carry these secrets. We b...

Juventus and the Tether Offer: A Somber Turn for the Adventurous   The answer came swiftly, definitively, and without room for negotiation. Exor , the Agnelli family's holding company, rejected Tether's approximately €1.1 billion offer to acquire their controlling stake in Juventus Football Club. For those who wondered whether the deal might proceed, whether new ownership might arrive with fresh capital and renewed ambitions , the response was clear: the club would remain with her century-old family. As the Christmas season approaches, there is a quietness to this decision that feels heavier than it should. This was not simply a business transaction declined— it was a door closing on possibility at a time when possibilities felt scarce . Tether had pledged to invest €1 billion in the club's support and development if the acquisition completed. The stablecoin company's CEO, Paolo Ardoino , spoke of personal connection, of growing up with the team, of l...

Understanding the NFL's Updated Overtime Format As the season approaches its most festive period, the NFL has implemented a significant modification to its overtime procedures that affects how games conclude when regulation time expires with teams tied. This change represents a departure from previous policy and merits careful examination for those who follow the league's competitive framework. The revised overtime structure now guarantees both teams will receive possession of the football during playoff games, regardless of whether the first team to possess the ball scores a touchdown. Previously, if the team receiving the opening overtime kickoff scored a touchdown on their initial drive, the game ended immediately. Under the new framework, the opposing team now receives an opportunity to respond with their own possession, even after a touchdown has been scored . This adjustment stems from the 2022 AFC Divisional playoff game between Kansas City and Buffalo , ...

Waffle Knit Tops: The Gift That Says, That's What's Up Listen. Please. I need to talk to you about waffle knit tops because apparently everyone is talking about them and honestly? Good . You're doing great. Keep it up . But first let me be very clear about something : I said waffle KNIT. Not waffle KIT. If you show up to Christmas morning with a waffle kit thinking you've crushed  gift-giving , you haven't. Nobody wants a waffle kit. " Oh boy, a single-use kitchen appliance that'll sit in my cabinet for three years! " said no one ever. Okay maybe like two people but they're lonely. Waffle KNIT though? Now we're talking. Now we're cooking. Not waffles , but you know what I mean. What Even IS Waffle Knit? It's that textured fabric that looks like... wait for it... tiny waffles. Revolutionary right there. But here's the thing that makes it genius : it's cozy without being bulky . It's got that whole: I'm sty...

My Husband Got a Christmas Bonus and Bought a TV (Obviously) So my husband got his Christmas bonus last week. You know what happened next, right? Of course you do. There's now a 65-inch television mounted in our living room. Did I think maybe— just maybe —we'd have a conversation about it first? Perhaps discuss whether we needed a new TV ( we did ), or if there were other priorities for that money? Sure, I had that thought . For about thirty seconds. Then I remembered who I married. The Black Friday Effect To be fair, Black Friday TV deals are genuinely good right now. He showed me the price comparison charts. He had tabs open . There was research involved, which I suppose counts for something. And yes, the old TV was from 2010 and was actually one of those extra-large tablets... But it worked. It turned on. It displayed images. (Now I use it to mine ZeroCoin, of course.)  Apparently, that's not the bar we're clearing anymore. Th...

The Harmonica Under the Tree: A Cautionary Tale Every year, around this time, well-meaning aunts, uncles, and grandparents across the nation have the same thought: This is the year I become the cool relative . And every year, that thought leads directly to the music store, where a shiny harmonica sits in a little velvet-lined box, looking like the gateway to a lifetime of blues riffs and campfire singalongs. I know this because I've been that mom. I've stood in the checkout line, harmonica in hand, already imagining my son's face lighting up. I pictured him at eighteen, thanking me in his graduation speech for sparking his musical journey. What I did not picture was the harmonica living in a junk drawer by February, nestled between dead batteries and a broken game controller. Here's what happens when you gift a child an instrument they didn't ask for: nothing . Or worse, something . In my case, the harmonica begat a xylophone the following Christmas. Th...

The Zombie-Industrial Complex: How The Walking Dead Killed The American Mall Listen , I know you're still recovering from Halloween and absolutely nobody asked for this, but we need to talk about the elephant in the room. Or rather, the shambling corpse in the food court. America's malls are dying, and it's because we won't stop watching zombie movies. I can already hear you preparing your counter-arguments about Amazon  and, " changing retail landscapes ," and economic factors,  but consider this: Dawn of the Dead came out in 1978, and what's been happening to malls ever since? Exactly . They've been slowly deteriorating into the very zombie apocalypse sanctuaries we see on screen. Life imitates art imitates life eating brains. The evidence is irrefutable if you squint hard enough and ignore all contrary data. Every October, we collectively consume zombie media like it's candy corn we pretend to enjoy. We binge The Walkin...

The Empty Echo : What Happens When Our Malls Disappear? You're pulling the Halloween decorations down from the closet, and right behind them, there's the box marked,  Christmas . In a few weeks, you'll be shopping for gifts—probably clicking through Amazon at midnight, maybe making a quick Walmart run between errands. It's efficient. It's convenient. But something has been quietly vanishing while we've been adding items to our digital carts. Across America, the malls that once anchored our communities are being demolished. Eastland Mall in Columbus, Ohio—once a bustling center of commerce and community—began its demolition this year. The Outlets at Hillsboro in Texas, Jamestown Mall in Missouri, and dozens of others have met the same fate or are scheduled for the wrecking ball. These aren't just buildings coming down. They're town centers disappearing. The numbers tell a sobering story. Between 2016 and 2024, a net 18,730 ma...