voting matters

Once again, it feels like the world around us is out of control, and I have to say that I get irrationally angry at some of it.  New stories appear every day about malfeasance, greed, corruption, subverting religion, social issues, and a total lack of concern for our future, or that of the planet.  There are lies and obfuscation that just make everything harder.

And of course, the people that support the administration - who are behind most of the nonsense - are just blindly clapping, even when it directly adversely affects them.  It's a form of insanity, and cultish in the way it plays out. FAFO, indeed.

But I remain hopeful about it all.  At some point, the pendulum will swing back.  How long that takes is debatable right now, but with a bit of luck it will start during the next election cycle.

Sure, voter turnout for the mid-term primaries were abysmal.  In Florida, they were well below 20%, which pundits will tell you doesn't bode well.

But are they right?  Only time will tell if there's a general apathy - or if there's anything more to this.  As always read the breathless headlines with a grain of salt.  A couple of things to consider: 

• a good size block of voters switched to independent from either party; and there wasn't much to vote on in a primary for them.  So I wouldn't have expected them to show up at the polls.
• One might (rightfully) argue that many voters will simply vote to protect the administration or vote against it.  To some, it simply doesn't matter what the name is on the ballot to accomplish that.  
• There will be other things on the ballot in November that voters DO care about, like the property tax issue in Florida which likely will drive voter turnout.

So we'll see.  But the one thing you can do is to remind everyone that their vote is, in fact, important and they need to turn out and vote! Volunteer for a voter drive.  Make phone calls.  Canvas if that's your thing.

Brazilian teen Lucas Tadao makes eco trays from cassava peels to fight

As global concern mounts over plastic pollution and the environmental damage caused by non-biodegradable materials, innovative solutions are emerging from unexpected quarters. In Brazil, 14-year-old student Lucas Tadao Sugahara Wernick is drawing national attention with his development of a biodegradable alternative to conventional Styrofoam food trays, using agricultural waste sourced from the country’s own backyard. The project, developed as a school science initiative in Curitiba, the capital of Paraná state, seeks to address the environmental impact of single-use plastics by using cassava peels and araucaria tree residues that would otherwise be discarded.

Lucas began exploring sustainable packaging materials after confronting the grim reality that Styrofoam, widely used for packaging fruits, vegetables, and meats, can persist in the environment for centuries. According to project documentation, Styrofoam can take up to 700 years to decompose, contributing significantly to long-term plastic pollution. Seeking environmentally responsible alternatives, Lucas turned to cassava peels, a by-product of Brazil’s well-established food industry, and to araucaria tree residues, which naturally fall from Paraná pine trees and are typically treated as waste.

The trays are produced by combining dried, ground cassava peels and processed araucaria residues with water and cassava starch. After cleaning and grinding the raw materials into fine particles, the mixture is heated and pressed into molds before undergoing a drying process. The use of cassava starch, a natural binding agent derived from the abundant local crop, eliminates the need for petroleum-based plastics or synthetic additives. The resulting trays are intended to replace traditional Styrofoam containers for packaging fresh produce.

Experimental results suggest the biodegradable trays offer a dramatic improvement in environmental performance compared to Styrofoam. Lucas reported that under suitable conditions, the trays decompose in roughly 30 days - a stark contrast to the centuries-long persistence of conventional alternatives. To confirm the packaging’s real-world viability, the project included tests for compression strength, pressure resistance, torsion, water absorption, and biodegradability. The trays demonstrated sufficient mechanical strength for use in food packaging while successfully breaking down in moist soil.

Cassava peels are a particularly promising resource for such innovations, given that Brazil is one of the world’s largest producers of cassava. The peels contain valuable natural starch that can serve as an adhesive, supporting the formation of lightweight composites when combined with fibrous tree residues. This approach reduces reliance on new raw materials, aligning with the principles of a circular economy by giving new life to materials that would otherwise be wasted.

Lucas’s invention has brought recognition at Brazilian science fairs, including the PUCPR Science Fair, and has been published in the proceedings of a scientific initiation symposium. The success of the project underlines the broader potential of agricultural waste as a raw material for biodegradable packaging, a solution that is gaining prominence as countries worldwide seek to curb their reliance on petroleum-based plastics. While additional development is needed to enable large-scale manufacturing and deployment, the project demonstrates how grassroots innovation, using local resources and waste streams, could play a key role in reducing plastic pollution and shaping a more sustainable future.

Costa Rica’s Wild Capuchin Monkeys Are Using AI Touchscreens

CaupchinAI is a good use case for a form of artificial intelligence. 

Researchers put touch screens in the forests in Costa Rica to try and test the intelligence of the capuchin monkeys. The screen activates one a monkey comes near it and gives a task; if the monkey completes it they get a treat. 

And the results were interesting in that monkeys did interact and get rewards. And there’s some evidence that they learned from the interaction too.  

https://ticotimes.net/2026/08/14/costa-rica-capuchin-monkeys-ai-touchscreen-study

Gladys West, GPS pioneer and mathematician, dies at 95 : NPR

Earlier this year, Dr West passed away at the age of 95. Her mathematics in calculating the surface of the earth, led to the development of GPS. 

There’s a short history of her life in the attached NPR story, but I just started reading her memoir. It’s fascinating stuff. She grew up in the Jim Crow South, but managed to be very successful and her legacy lives on. 

https://www.npr.org/2026/01/23/nx-s1-5685027/gladys-west-gps-mathematician

Is it just me…

Two stories caught my attention this week related to Disney. And they made me scratch my head…

The first was about the sale of the lakers. Bob Iger as the CEO of Disney threaded a bit of a needle in protecting “his” company from the orange menace. Iger was no fan of the convicted felon, and is reportedly a democrat who sometimes used to express some views that ran that direction. But he decided he wanted to buy the basketball team, and partnered with Jared Kushners brother to buy them. 

I would argue that the Kushner family, long connected to the convicted felon, are about as close as you can get to him. It’s just so weird and reminds us that people - especially the wealthy elite - are only in it for themselves and are willing to put anything aside to get what they want. 

The second story was about Pat Mcaffee, the personality at espn who often espouses a point of view that supports the maga movement, yet claims he doesn’t want to get political with his show. (And for the record, several others who espoused the opposing view were actually fired from espn for doing essentially the same thing). 

He became the highest paid personality recently, and espn laid off a large number of people (who kept it about the sports and could be considered actual journalists), presumably to lean into Pats POV for ratings. 

And what does Pat do next? He has the convicted felon on his show, and then appears with him at something called “the patriot games” (which were laughably stupid, as you might guess). 

Thus throwing out a sense of “not being political” … how silly this all became. 

Photos: Total solar eclipse 2026 | CNN

Yesterday, there was a full solar eclipse, visible from Northern Europe, and up into Iceland. 

I know some people who saw it and their comment was: Beautiful. 

https://www.cnn.com/2026/08/12/science/gallery/photos-total-solar-eclipse

In 1961 President Kennedy picked Ed Dwight to become America's first Black astronaut candidate, but NASA never selected him, so he spent decades sculpting bronze instead — and finally flew to space at 90

I’ve mentioned Ed Dwight in previous newsletters, but it’s worth revisiting.  Dwight nearly was the first black man in space - if he had been selected among the first group of astronauts in the 1960s.

But sadly, while Kennedy had wanted Dwight to be part of the story, when Kennedy was assassinated in 1963, that dream died along with him, and Dwight was excluded. And it would be another two decades before a black man would go into space.

https://spacedaily.com/m-in-1961-president-kennedy-picked-ed-dwight-to-become-americas-first-black-astronaut-candidate-but-nasa-never-selected-him-so-he-spent-decades-sculpting-bronze-instead-and-finally-flew-to/