Bitchin' Dave’s Blog: Bitchin Dave's Newsletter

September 19, 2023

Insights, news, ramblings, and other serious nonsense from Dave

Dave’s Musings

One thing that drives me crazy is conspiracy theories. Looking at it from a distance, you might realize that large scale ones - like the Kennedy assassination or faking the moon landing - would require a ridiculous amount of planning and coordination. And they would also require that too many people would know, and would be willing to keep that secret. It's just not reasonable to have a conspiracy like that. And add in any technology that would have been required, and it's a task that would be easier to NOT fake.

And then you have the smaller scale ones in recent times that come from a "crazy uncle" that maybe seem like a possibility for a moment. At least until you stop and think about how crazy they really sound. Someone was running a child sex trafficking ring out a pizza shop? A senator has been replaced by a duplicate (like in the movie "Dave" where the president was replaced)?

But then they get parroted many times over, and suddenly they gain some traction. Its amazing (not in a good way) what the internet can do in terms of sucking people in and giving them just enough to support a belief or bias that they have.

As always, I remind you to consider carefully what you read and its source.

One of the great things about science overall is the notion that we create theories to explain the world (and universe) around us, but are willing to accept that new evidence may challenge these theories.

We had a theory about the universe and how it expands. Along came the Hubble Space Telescope, and it suggested a different answer. Scientists called the difference the "Hubble tension" ... the launch of the James Webb Space Telescope would hopefully show something that matched with the original theory.

Except that it confirmed what Hubble showed, and now there's a cosmological problem of sorts.

And while its a relatively minor argument, and scientists disagree, they all are aware that we may have a new accepted theory of how this all works.

https://bigthink.com/starts-with-a-bang/jwst-confirms-worsens-hubble-tension/

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) recently announced that they are working on Wireless Energy Transmission, using high energy lasers.

Of course the intended purpose is for ensuring the military can be powered anywhere in the world. But even so, the concept is intriguing and may be an enormous breakthrough.

A lesser-known nugget: Nikola Tesla proposed the idea of wireless energy transmission nearly 100 years ago. He even tested the theory and started to build a tower to provide energy to an area in New Jersey. (but that's a story for another day)

Intriguingly - and not to sound like a conspiracy theorist - all of his notes and records for everything he was working on (a "death ray" among them) were confiscated by the FBI upon his death.

Interesting Engineering - DARPA

More about Tesla

There's a bear in Disney World!

Although guests are used to seeing Henry, Big Al, Liver Lips, Wendell and the rest of the Country Bears in Frontierland, this was different.

A real life black bear was spotted near the Magic Kingdom, although it was incorrectly reported that it was in the park. I mean why would they let him in without a ticket?

He was in a backstage area near (what was) Splash Mountain. So as a precaution, some areas of the park were closed until he could be safely removed and relocated to the Forest in Ocala.

As far as I know, its the first time this has ever happened in Disney World. Which may suggest that habitats are changing for bears as they wander further away. Just a little something to consider.

I was reading that Starbucks - with its global coffee chain accounting for more locations than any other store - wants to do away with single use cups and lids.

An admirable goal, to be sure. But the question is how? They've been testing out compostable lids in some places.

And they have plenty of ideas for the cups: making them compostable, forming a cup sharing program, washing cups, and offering an opportunity for customers to bring their own cup.

To me, the one thing that would really work with customers is to engage them with an incentive. Bring a cup, return a cup. or otherwise contribute, and get a discount. Financial incentives and making people feel a part of something seems obvious.

Its worth keeping an eye on because of their reach - and the amount of waste that is produced because of them. What they do will be replicated by others.

One Little Spark …

… for your imagination

Last week Ketanji Brown Jackson, the first black woman to serve on the Supreme Court, spoke about the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing, which happened 60 years ago in Birmingham, Alabama.

She spoke of confronting race and race issues, even though they may be uncomfortable. Or perhaps because they are uncomfortable.

“I know that atrocities like the one we are memorializing today are difficult to remember and relive, But I also know that it is dangerous to forget them.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HiZNSfz42H8