Bitchin' Dave's Newsletter - July 18

  

July 18, 2023 Insights, news, ramblings, and other serious nonsense from Dave

Dave’s Musings

In an interesting twist, the GOP is pivoting from outright climate change denial, to something more nuanced. But don't be fooled. It still doesn't address the underlying causes related to climate change, and has many gifts to corporations that are at the forefront of climate change.

The currently stated goals are:

1. to have more US oil and gas production because "its cleaner than foreign sources" and would "lower energy costs" (which are dubious statements), but does nothing for the environment nor does it actually reduce consumption
2. to plant "a trillion trees" which sounds noble, but that number would cover the entire US; the threat of wildfires goes up (possibly exacerbating the climate situation); and these trees would be made available to the logging industry.
3. to allow for mining of materials used in electronics, and electric vehicles. The questions are where and how? This would have to be carefully managed.

Which means we still have a long way to go. But I will accept the baby steps, and hold out hope that maybe someday soon, we could find some middle ground, and actually go further than this.

Quick correction: last week, I noted the resumption of my podcast, but I mistakenly provided a link to the LAist, which I wanted to share this week. The correct link for my podcast (Just What Do You Think You're Doing Dave?) is this: https://anchor.fm/david473

  

I've been listening to a podcast series from the LAist called "Blood, Sweat, & Rockets" which is a look back at the early pioneers in rocketry. Its an intriguing look at the men (and even a few unheralded women) who helped push us into the rocket age through experimentation, bravado, and a lot of luck. And it deals with their personal lives - some of which is decidedly controversial. I highly recommend giving it a listen. Blood, Sweat, and Rockets on Pocket Casts

Tesla is in the process of acquiring a small company called Wiferion. Wiferion's niche in the market is that they have developed a method to provide wireless charging to batteries. They do this using inductive charging; in broad terms, they create a magnetic field that is converted into electricity that charges the battery. This could be a "game changer" where you park your car over a mat and it charges without having to plug in. In the words of Rebecca Tinucci (director of charging at Tesla) this would "do cool s**t"

An analyst for Needham (an investment banking firm) by the name of Laura Martin posited that Disney will be acquired by Apple over the next few years. This is a rumor we've heard bandied about pretty much since Bob Iger retired, and became more prominent when he came back. But her suggestion that it *will* happen is something new. She cites Disney's park attendance woes, their recent box office flops, trouble with streaming numbers, and sports cuts among the possible reasons for such a move. I have my doubts, but its an interesting thought. We'll see if anything comes of this.

There's a story (sadly, behind a paywall) at Fortune magazine about Motorola. In the TL;DR sense, they dominated the market for two way radios. And then, they pioneered a cellphone that piggybacked off of it so you could use the radio network, instead of cell minutes, to communicate. But in the new world we live in, they found a way to repackage and brand themselves as a provider of safety: a way for police and firefighters to communicate in a more modern way than 2-way radios. Their success in this area again allows them to dominate. Motorola's turnaround

One Little Spark …  … for your imagination

Henry Rollins, who you may know as a Punk Rock icon, and member of the band Black Flag, defies what you may know about the Punk genre.  He currently is on tour talking about his experiences, his personal history, and about societal issues. (more on the tour at henryrollins.com)

A while ago, he gave a (longwinded) talk about gay marriage, which I found recently and thought was worth sharing.  Indeed, why does anyone oppose the idea?

https://youtu.be/kF7vNVmb2fo  

Dave’s latest video

On this episode, I talk about how car companies are sending diagnostic information back to the car company - rather than leaving it in the car itself. This has led to new "Right to Repair" laws being created. https://youtu.be/lL1nCvqGla0

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