October 21, 2025

Good morning Staker! Here’s what’s cookin’ today. Some web services still offline after huge AWS outage, a secret tunnel opens to public under Colosseum, here’s how to protect those knees, and RUSH adds more tour dates🤘

Let’s get into it!

Amazon Web Services (AWS), the cloud-computing service that’s used by some of the world’s largest and most important organizations, was hit by a global outage yesterday morning that it’s still working on fully resolving.

While regular service resumed at 6 a.m. ET yesterday, the ripple effects were felt well into the afternoon by plenty of groups, including the Associated Press, SnapChat, and even Ticketmaster, which had to act fast due to issues being experienced by Blue Jays fans attempting to access their tickets for last night’s ALCS game 7.

“So much of the world now relies on these three or four big (cloud) compute companies who provide the underlying infrastructure that when there’s an issue like this, it can be really impactful across a broad range, a broad spectrum [of online services],” said Patrick Burgess, a cybersecurity expert at U.K.-based BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT.

The average consumer doesn’t experience the full brunt of problems like what went on at Amazon yesterday, prompting questions about accountability and transparency into what many describe as a modern-day essential utility like the internet or the “plumbing system” that undergirds it.

“The good news is that this kind of issue is usually relatively fast (to resolve)” and it appears yesterday’s incident was not the result of foul play, Burgess said.

It’s a tale as old as time. The elite don’t like to mingle with regular folks. Just ask Emperor Commodus who governed Rome from 177 to 192 CE. Dating back nearly 2,000 years, the Passage of Commodus was a secret tunnel called that served as a hidden entrance to the Colosseum.

The secret tunnel and private entrance was only discovered during an excavation by French archeologists between 1810 and 1814. It was reopened for study in 1874 and again in the 1990s before a new phase of conservation began in the 2020-21 restoration of the Colosseum.

Soon, it will open to the public for tourists to visit the historic site and stand in awe of the detailed works of art etched into the marble-lined walls, including the story of Dionysus, boar hunts, and gladiatorial conquests in the arena above.

“Once this passage is now open to the public, visitors will appreciate what it was like to be an emperor,” said archaeologist Barbara Nazzaro, who led the conservation work.

Researchers in an international study compared data from previous studies involving 15,684 patients with osteoarthritis in the knees, looking specifically at the effectiveness of six different exercises in terms of how they impacted the person’s knee pain, function, gait, and general quality of life.

The exercises were divided into categories including aerobic, strengthening, flexibility, neuromotor, mind-body, and a category for “mixed exercises” that included combinations of the other categories.

The researchers found aerobic exercises—such as brisk walking, cycling, and exercises while in a pool—were the overall most effective in pain relief, function, gait, and quality of life.

"Patients should engage regularly in structured aerobic activities, such as walking, cycling, or swimming, to optimize symptom management," the researchers noted. "If aerobic exercise is not possible owing to individual limitations, alternative forms of structured physical activity may still be beneficial."

The screenplay for Empire Strikes Back, written by Leigh Brackett and Lawrence Kasdan is one of only three printed works from 1980 that showed a peculiar hue for a certain well-known character. The works are the subject of recent archival reviews and testimony from those who were there when the second Star Wars film was being developed.

Early renderings and some of the first Yoda puppets suggest the elder Jedi we first meet in the swamps of Dagobah was initially supposed to be blue or purple.

“Mysteriously standing right in front of Luke is a strange, bluish creature, not more than two feet tall. The wizened little thing is dressed in rags,” reads the screenplay.

In addition to the text from the film’s original screenplay, a novel adapted from the movie also describes Yoda as blue, and a comic book released after the movie was already in theaters even shows the beloved alien as a blue figure.

All of this to say Yoda’s ultimate debut in the film as a green being was possibly the result of a very late-stage shakeup by high-level decisionmakers on set.

On the other hand, according to Nick Maley, a special makeup and creature effects designer who worked on Star Wars, the decision had already been made prior to his arrival on set in 1979.

Would seem, it would…a mystery, it remains.

Rush announced 17 more dates for its upcoming reunion tour, on which Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson will reunite, drawing them closer to the heart of their life’s work for the first time in a decade.

Anika Nilles, a composer and a former drummer with Jeff Beck’s group, will fill in for the late great Neil Peart on drums.

Among the cities added to the highly-anticipated tour are Boston, Detroit, Atlanta, and Philadelphia. Various presales will begin next week, followed by the public sale on Oct. 31.

“You know, when we finished the [R40] tour [in 2015], it was difficult for Neil and he had enough. By that point, I think Ged and I still had gas in the tank and we still wanted to continue working,” Lifeson explained during a private event at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in early October.

“But it was what it was. The further I got away from it, the more I thought, ‘You know, it’s okay. We had 40 years. I’m tired of hanging around hotels, being away from family and all of that stuff.’ I felt that way for most of the last 10 years, really. I thought we had a great legacy and it’s okay.

“Then, this guy [Geddy] came along and…

Whatchu talkin’ about

It’s time for another round of quotable quotes, Staker!

That’a right, today we’ve got a set of 10 questions, ready to test your knowledge of some of the best TV quotes from the ’70s and ’80s with today’s trivia!

Complete the game and earn a shot at a $25 eGift Card ;)

Winner will be notified on Wednesday afternoon. Keep an eye on your inbox and don’t forget to check your spam folder!*