Walt Disney’s private airplane restored after 15 years of baking in the Florida sun | Popular Science

The plane had been on display on the backlot tour at the Disney MGM tours for many years. And then, they closed the tour and moved the plane into a backstage area … where it’s been rotting in the sun ever since. 

And now, it’s been restored and will return to public display. 

https://www.popsci.com/technology/walt-disney-private-airplane-restored/

Seeing America in Epcot.

On our recent trip to Disney World, my son and I ventured into Epcot. We opted to get in the spirit of the Semiquincentennial and see the shows about America. 

Early in the day, we decided to check out Soarin’ over America. I previously gave my assessment of a video I saw - it had too much CGI, really didn’t capture the essence of America, and kind of sucked. In person, with the attraction effects and the immersiveness, I would say it was better… but I stand by general comments. Still, I was glad we saw it in situ. 

Later in the day, we headed over to the American Adventure and checked out the offerings there.  The building is unique in  that it captures many different architectural styles from the colonial era, and is actually 5 stories tall but a reverse kind of forced perspective is used to make it appear two stories, with a kind of “attic space” at the top. We saw the voices of liberty (for the uninitiated they are an acapela group that performs traditional American songs), whose voices carry nicely through the rotunda. We checked out the museum (which on this day celebrated Native American heritage). And then we went up to see the show. 

On the way up, you pass 44 flags from throughout the United States’ history.  There are statues for the different “spirits” that guided the nation’s founding (like the spirit of adventure). 

And then came the show, which you can watch in the YouTube link below. 

The technology behind it is astounding. There’s a giant “wagon wheel” that moves show parts in and out and brings up the audio animatronics as the show progresses. And it’s use is the reason the building is 5 stories.  The vistas are amazing and watching Ben Franklin climb stairs is cool. 

But the show is mostly uninspiring.  It’s had updates and tweaks in its lifespan, but it is mostly the same show it was in 1982. 

It’s long, and gives a view of America through the lens of exceptionalism, is a bit uneven, and glosses over some topics in a way that the 1970s kind of did (which is to be expected).

I’ve probably only sat through it between 4-6 times over its 50 years for those reasons. 

My adult son had never seen it, but was surprised at how it came across. At this point in time, it could probably use some changes or at least a revised point of view. 

But nevertheless, the small-ish audience that was there with us cheered at the end. So perhaps it did what the imagineers originally intended: it celebrated America from a very American point of view. 

With all that’s going on in the world, it was at least pleasant to remember our history, and appreciate the shows point of view. 

https://youtu.be/2HtO-slH3o8?is=UZkW-VKKDMZexJOG

Dumbassery is alive and well in Murica.

T-rump is still railing about an election that took place 6 years ago!!!

He claims election fraud, which has been proven time and again to be false. 

And honestly, if we were to simply take it at face value, then he won a second term based on fraud. Which is clearly not his point. 

Such a dumbass. But the maga crowd cheers at dear leader. And this is another salvo in attacks on free and fair elections. 

Yikes.

On Disney World

I recently made a trip to the Walt Disney World for a little summer fun.  I know what you're thinking: I must be out of my mind to go to the theme parks during the summer when the temperature is soaring in the mid-to-high 90s.  And you'd be right.  Except that its hot *everywhere* these days and there's no escaping it. Besides Disney does a decent job of helping guests find ways to mitigate the heat through shade and AC, and with afternoon thunderstorms it cools down some.  So its not ALL bad. And we had fun, anyway.

But that's not really my intended point.  Its that the parks until somewhat recently were populated by tourists from around the world, especially during the summer.  You'd see people from very many walks of life, and hear very many languages.  But I couldn't help but notice the parks were relatively empty, and they were offering a pretty good discount for Florida residents, underscoring that Disney is looking to attract more locals (which they never do during the summer).  

The guests were predominantly white, and I rarely heard anything other than English.  It was very .... weird.  I haven't seen this since maybe the 1980s.

As for the parks themselves, Disney has done a decent job of making sure rides and shows are open, and though the construction walls are there in areas that are being constructed, I didn't feel like they were in the way for the most part.  

We did have some maintenance issues in a few places, and there were a few ride breakdowns along the way - more than I typically see.  So there is more opportunity for Disney to delight guests.

While it felt different in a way, and wasn't maybe quite what I expected, it was still an enjoyable experience.

Plant based news, and environmental issues

I read recently that the European Parliament voted to ban a long list of meat-related words from being used on plant-based products and other alternatives, such as cultured meat. These include protections for dairy producers, new rules for marketing, and the definition of meat as the “edible parts of an animal,” thereby excluding plant-based and other animal-free alternatives from the use of certain meat-related words.

The advocates for these protections said it was simply “new measures to support farmers.”

Alistair Currie, the public affairs and policy manager at The Vegan Society, said: “This decision will remove consumer choice, stifle innovation in the vegan food sector, increasing costs to businesses that will need to re-label and re-market products with new names and descriptions. None of these benefits the consumer.”

Before the vote, Jasmijn de Boo, the CEO of ProVeg, told Euronews Green: “The climate transition requires making more sustainable food choices easier, not harder. Plant-based foods typically have a significantly lower environmental footprint than animal-based products, including lower greenhouse-gas emissions and land use, so policies should support their development and uptake.”

To that end, a peer reviewed study was conducted and the summary is that Animal agriculture Is THE leading cause of Climate Change.  

Not fossil fuels.  Full stop.

https://plantbasednews.org/news/environment/animal-ag-leading-cause-climate-change/

China used a giant net to land a reusable rocket. Does the idea have legs? | South China Morning Post

Here’s a novel idea to catch a rocket in a net! 

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3360553/china-used-giant-net-land-reusable-rocket-does-idea-have-legs