I’ll admit I’ve graduated to somewhat of a news junkie. Being retired and without a to-do list a mile long, I spend my mornings with coffee and the internet instead of email and deadlines. And throughout the day, I check around for any major happenings and have Jack, my ChatGPT assistant, do a morning round-up and let me know of major happenings throughout the day.
I got this: On November 1, 2026, Learjet 60 N722BD (charter/private, Delaware LLC owner) flying from Austin-Bergstrom to North Eleuthera (Bahamas) crashed in a residential/mobile-home area near Greenacres/Cresthaven in Palm Beach County, Florida (around Military Trail and 10th Avenue North), roughly 8–9 miles from Mar-a-Lago / Palm Beach area. All 9 people on board were killed.
Next, I got on X (Twitter) to read the latest and unverified versions.
On X, EVERYTHING spreads like wild fire. The downside is that while much is true according to whom you follow (Reuters, AP, etc.), there’s more that must be fact checked. AI platforms are crazy good… scary good. One of the people I follow had Grok @bot put together a video of the flight path from public ADS-B data accompanied by the pilots’ VHF radio traffic with Miami Center.
Don’t listen to the audio. I watched the video with the sound and I can’t stop thinking about it. The screams… the pilot reciting the Lord’s prayer… it was awful. There will be a press conference today, but I’m not expecting much info to be released.
While reading about the tragic event that took 9 lives in moments, I ran across the following:
I fact checked it before sharing here and found it’s a true story that happened in April 2010. I don’t know about you, but with everything going on in our world today, I needed a great story. 🙂
An 11-year-old girl disappeared into a Florida swamp filled with alligators, leaving her parents terrified she might never come home. For four days, helicopters, search dogs, and rescue teams searched desperately, but found nothing.
It happened in Winter Springs, Florida. Nadia Bloom had gone out on her bicycle to photograph nature when she wandered into the dense swampland and became hopelessly lost.
As the days passed, her terrified parents continued praying for her safe return. But there was still no trace of Nadia, and with each passing night, the chances of finding her alive seemed to grow smaller.
Then a man named James King, who attended the family’s church, felt God calling him to search the swamp again. He ventured into the wilderness alone, praying and asking God to guide his steps.
James pushed deeper into the thick vegetation, calling Nadia’s name again and again. He later said he believed God was directing him where to go. Then, after calling her name once more, a little voice answered, and against all odds, he had found her alive.
But getting her home was another challenge. The swamp was so dense that rescuers couldn’t immediately reach them. James used toilet paper to signal a helicopter overhead while rescue crews fought their way through the vegetation.
After four days alone in the swamp, Nadia was finally carried to safety, suffering only dehydration, bruises, and insect bites.
Sometimes God answers prayers through people willing to listen and act. Share this story with someone who needs that reminder.
Dharma listened to the story intently and thinks Nadia Bloom would’ve been found sooner if James had a good dog. 😉
Now you know: Two pilots flew a Cessna 172 continuously for 64 days, 22 hours and 19 minutes in 1959. Their world record has remained unbeaten for 67 years.
