It’s already been a long week for a lot of folks. Hopefully a big dose of sea otters can help brighten up your morning (scroll to the bottom). With a football-less fall in Nebraska and travel-less fall for me, I am thinking about spicing up the Travel Flakes with an ‘Animal of the Week’. This week it will be a Sea Otter. Submit your nominations below and I’ll put them up to a vote on which animal should be featured in a future Frosted Flakes.

I also read an interesting article about a drive-in haunted house in Japan of course (see below) which reminds me that I have never actually been to a real haunted house, a pop-up haunted house or a drive-in haunted house. I’ve always been a believer that ghosts and spirits exist in this world (even though I’ve never seen them in person) and television shows like Ghost Adventures have only strengthened that case for me. Maybe they are lost souls. Maybe they have unfinished business. Maybe they want to spread love instead of fear. I’m curious to know which out of lovely readers have experienced seeing ghosts or spirits or have visited a haunted house like the one in Villisca, Iowa.

Anyways onto Flakes...

Frosted Flakes

Thomas Fidone Commits to the Huskers | Football | Corn Nation

The whole staff played their part in this recruitment, but special props go to Coach Frost, TE coach Sean Beckton, and defensive coordinator Erik Chinander for getting him to Lincoln.

Scouting the Huskers for the 2021 NFL Draft | Football | Corn Nation

Welcome new NFL Draft expert Brian Johannes to the Corn Nation staff.

Mailbag: Would the Winter Season Call for a Youth Movement at Nebraska? | Sports | Hail Varsity

Hail Varsity staff members Mike Babcock, Jacob Padilla, Greg Smith, Erin Sorensen and Brandon Vogel tackle your questions about the latest news in Husker Nation.

Big Ten ADs Already At Work, Return to Competition Task Force Up Next | Sports | Hail Varsity

“We’ve not formally met yet,” he said. “We haven’t had that kickoff yet formally for that conversation, but I know the ADs across the conference have been working since August 11 when the decision was made to postpone to answer what we will look like in a January-going-forward timeframe. That includes soccer, cross country, volleyball, football that are so important to us.”

Travel and Entertainment

America’s Dive Bars Face An Uncertain Future | Travel | Conde Nast Traveler

Yet all those things that give dive bars their indisputable character also make them entirely at odds with social distancing amid a pandemic—and they are suffering exponentially because of it. Fancy cocktail bars and restaurants have been able to adapt by adding patios and al fresco menus without losing their identity. But a dive bar’s DNA lies within its dark interiors.

Delta Will Give Flight Attendants Rapid Coronavirus Tests on Demand | Travel | Conde Nast Traveler

The optional tests, performed by a CVS clinician via nasal swab, will be available in crew lounges at Delta’s hub airports. Results will take fewer than 15 minutes, according to the airline. Delta says that the new rapid tests are part of its layered approach to prevent COVID-19’s spread on its planes.

Delta Doubles Cleaning Staff and Commits to Blocking Middle Seats Until Next Year | Travel | Travel and Leisure

The airline will now have at least eight employees disinfect planes between flights — depending on the plane size — instead of three to five. Delta will focus on common touchpoints like tray tables and bathroom door handles and have the staffers spray areas with disinfectant. After, a flight attendant and gate agent will inspect the cabin together and call back the cleaning staff if necessary.

This Company Will Pay One Person $1000 to Unplug in a National Park | Travel | Travel and Leisure

The Salt Lake City-based SatelliteInternet.com, which helps people in rural areas find the most dependable internet service, launched a Digital Detox Challenge last week, encouraging Americans to give up technology and reconnect with nature.

Here’s How Much Cash American Travelers Leave At Security Checkpoints Last Year | Travel | Travel and Leisure

Over the course of the 2019 fiscal year, ending in September. Of that amount, $907,131.35 was in US dollars, and $18,899.09 was in foreign currency, for a grand total of $926,030.44 – about $34,000 less than the year prior.

Virgin Atlantic Will Provide Free Coronavirus Insurance For Airline Passengers | Travel | Travel and Leisure

The airline said its new insurance plan applies automatically to all new and existing bookings up until March 31, 2020, claiming it’s “the most comprehensive COVID-19 cover provided by any major airline.” It’s not just restricted to the airline though, the plan also applies to any Virgin Holiday booking, provided the airline is operated by Virgin or its partner airlines such as Delta Air Lines or Air France-KLM.

The World’s First Drive-In Haunted House | Travel | Travel and Leisure

Kenta Iwana also pointed out that the experience is safe, with no visitors having any direct contact with the cast members or staff. Actors sterilize their hands and cars are also cleaned down after every performance. Performances are open to one car at a time and cost ¥8000 ($75), and are due to recommence later in the year.

The Rest

Are We Already Living In a Tech Dystopia? | Technology | Gizmodo

For the most part, fictional characters rarely recognize when they’re trapped in a dystopia. Watching their neighbors get carted off for harboring subversive thoughts, they almost never say, “I wish we weren’t living in this dystopia.” To them, that dystopia is just life. Which suggests that—were we, at this moment, living in a dystopia ourselves—we might not even notice it.

Why Every City Feels the Same Now | Technology | The Atlantic

If a place has been inhabited for long enough, the stories will already be present, even if hidden. We need to uncover and resurface them, to excavate the meanings behind street names, to unearth figures lost to obscurity, and to rediscover architecture that has long since vanished.

How Can You Spark Innovation? | Business | Quartz

What are your biggest barriers to innovation? Usually, it’s rules—and not just any rules, but sacred rules: those norms and processes in your business that you’d love to kill but just can’t. Every company has them.

Social Distancing For the Visually Blind and Impaired | Life | Refinery 29

Imagine trying to social-distance in narrow aisles with no peripheral vision and obstructed central vision. Without the guidance or verbal cues of my husband reading the directional signs, or warning me that I’m about to bump into someone, I’m in for a dangerous experience. I typically get called many things while shopping alone.

Capturing the Secrets of the New York City Subway | Transportation | Huck Mag

The New York subway is a shell of its former self. Even as the city has managed to keep its coronavirus levels lower than many other parts of the country, and despite indications that using it isn’t all that dangerous, ridership is still down 75 per cent from last year. In May, for the first time in its 115 year history, the system that famously never shuts down began doing just that, each night from 1 AM to 5 AM for deep cleaning.

The Inside Story of the First Native American Distillery | History | Forbes

The tribe invested $25 million into the facility, which once complete a month from now will be among the biggest in Washington, set to produce 1.8 million gallons per year 80-proof spirits, including bourbon, vodka and gin. Covid-19 has thrown a wrench into grand opening plans, as travel restrictions have delayed a crew of Italian craftsmen who were set to install the dozen gleaming copper distillation tanks now sitting in the space.

Last But Not Least

Your sea otter fix for the week.