7/17/2025: Nudist No-Go Zone

PLUS: Dynamic Pricing; Nude Nomination Celebration; and The Gardens House

Today is Thursday, July 17, 2025.

It is the 198th day of the year.

167 days remain.

Photo by Aisha M on Unsplash

WHAT’S ON TAP

NOTABLE & NOTEWORTHY: One more Fyre sale.

Arrest made in “American Idol” exec’s murder and EMMA WATSON is ordered to stay off the road. More in SHOWBIZ.

COOPER KOCH celebrates his Emmy nomination with a prison phone call from LYLE MENENDEZ. CASTING CALL

A Royal experience opens up to the peasants. Details in ROYALS.

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Just hours after selling the Fyre Festival brand on eBay, BILLY MCFARLAND also auctioned off the full rights to his handwritten memoir for a relatively astonishing $25,000.

Someone paid the sum to receive a bundle of notebooks that Billy says he filled up while serving 309 days in solitary confinement. Along with the 800-some handwritten pages, the winner has exclusive rights “to utizilize the memoir for publishing and other exploitation,” according to the listing. McFarland promises his story delivers “ideas and visions that could only come from the most infamous entrepreneur of the decade.” (The winner also gets dinner with the convicted fraudster).

MEANWHILE: While we don’t know who bought the rights to the Fyre platform, we have an idea of what’s next for McFarland. In a statement following the disappointing eBay auction, he wrote in part, “The auction became the most-watched non-charity listing on eBay during its run, proving once again that attention is currency, and views are the root of attention. That belief is at the core of what I’m building next: a tech platform designed to capture and power the value behind every view online. It’s coming soon.”

WORTH NOTING: “A tech platform designed to capture and power the value behind every view online” sounds a lot like decades-old internet display advertising technology, but who knows. [via Morning Martini]

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The beachside properties destroyed by wildfires in January that mostly remain covered in rubble might never be rebuilt into luxury homes, after California’s state Senate passed a bill allowing Los Angeles County to buy the properties to build low-income housing projects.

The proposed law allocate property taxes to select construction companies, as long as 40% of the funds went to building affordable housing facilities.

The development follows an announcement last week that California’s state government will dole out $101 MILLION around Los Angeles County to jumpstart the rebuilding process. [via Just The News]

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A Superior Court judge in Seattle has ordered the closure of the beach at Denny Blaine Park – because the nudists won’t stop having sex in public.

While the beach isn’t officially designated as clothing-optional by Seattle’s recreation management department, it’s become a de facto destination for people wanting to bare it all in the Pacific Ocean. Locals have let that slide, but lately they’ve had enough of what the Daily Mail describes as “aggressive sexual behaviors.” They organized one group, “Denny Blaine Park for All,” to file a lawsuit that would get the government to crack down on the behavior.

One exhibit in the suit includes videos of some naked beachgoers engaging in – y’know – solo sexual pursuits. That was enough for the judge to order such behavior as a public nuisance. He entered an injunction closing the beach while the city figures out how to handle the situation. [via Daily Mail]

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DELTA Airlines says it’s planning to expand its use of artificial intelligence-powered dynamic pricing by the end of the year.

A few months ago, the company started using A.I. to set prices on just 1% of fairs. The system algorithmically took into account multiple factors to display a price to the customer that would make him most likely to buy. In recent weeks, they’ve expanded the system to about 3% of fares. By year’s end, they say 20% of fares will be set in this manner.

While it’s likely other airlines are also experimenting with the technology, Delta is the first to publicly announce the practice. [via Airline Geeks]

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FOLLOW UP: The chunk of Mars, believed to be the largest on Earth, sold for more than $5.3 million at auction.

It was expected to go for between $2 million and $4 million.

The 54-pound space rock was discovered in the Sahara Desert by a meteorite hunter in November 2023, according to Sotheby’s.

The buyer’s identity is not known. [via AP]

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