Bitchin Dave's Newsletter - October 10

  

October 10, 2023 Insights, news, ramblings, and other serious nonsense from Dave

Dave’s Musings

The world is very peculiar at times. I'm not trying to be a downer, but this war in Israel really is quite something. Its in no way simple, and as a result the media is at a loss to really explain it. As a nation, we typically side with Israel, especially because "the enemy" (Hamas) has been labeled a terrorist organization.

Clearly, this is a complex problem with many nuances. But the relative ignorance and looking for an easy way to talk about it is not limited to just the media. The calls to annihilate that enemy from some (notably Senator Rubio) is problematic in its own right, and doesn't really address the larger issues. And then there are calls from others (like Congresswoman Talib, who is Palestinian) suggesting there needs to be more attention paid to the way Israel treats Palestine; this sits on the other side of the way the US has positioned itself.

As educated, fair-minded people, I would encourage us all to study the details and seek to understand the underlying problem, and don't let sound bites determine how we feel about it.This applies here, and to other complicated situations. The more we know, the better off we all will be.

  

Last week, I mentioned that there's a desire to rapidly launch a rocket. It appears as though one of the rockets that was launched by Firefly may have punched a hole in the ionosphere. The interesting thing is that this may have happened with other launches as well. The questions are why this happened, and what the long term impact might be - especially if it happens frequently. Read More on Newsweek

I always enjoy when science can unlock a mystery. In this case, there was a Babylonian tablet that was believed to be over 3,500 years old. But they were unable to decode it. Work continued until they had a breakthrough and determined that this tablet contained a table of entries that, essentially, explained trigonometry. And based on its age, that would mean the Babylonians had mastered trigonometry 1,500 years before the Greeks figured it out. Translated tablet

Disney is in a tough spot. All their media platforms are struggling. Sports is expensive and not generating the returns they'd hope to see. Movies continue to disappoint. And theme park attendance remains down. Bob Iger this week said the company was in worse shape than he thought it was upon his return, and its a very uphill battle to get things right. And then there are the outside voices who have issues with the direction of the company. In particular, billionaire Nelson Peltz, who owns a substantial stake in the company and has strong opinions about it, is asking to be on the board of directors so he can influence what Disney does next. And the management may have little choice but to allow it to happen in order to correct course. There is much work to do going forward, and I think Disney will be making some pretty major changes in the coming months.

Right to repair laws are gaining traction in various states. As a reminder, car companies are trying hard to force consumers to only be able to repair vehicles by the dealer; they are are hoarding information on the computer info to make this happen. But now comes a new angle from the car manufacturers: the ability to repair. By making more fully integrated components, unibody construction, and other things that make parts "irreparable" they are trying to force consumers to simply buy another vehicle, and letting insurance companies eat the cost of a totalled vehicle. This certainly can't last, I'm sure the insurance groups will do what they can to change the course of this. Ability to Repair

One Little Spark …  … for your imagination

There is much discussion about shopping and retail theft, and general "bad behavior" in various settings.  Surely, theres some spillover effect from the pandemic.  Many people stepped out of social situations for around a year, and then people drew lines about how they felt about all of it, and "Karens" became a thing.

As a case in point, there was an odd story about Home Depot investigating retail theft, and finding there was a Florida-based (of course) religious-type who was orchestrating a $3 million ring to steal from the stores, and re-sell merchandise online.

But here's my take on a possible solution.  Companies should stop focusing on the bottom line and resume a strategy of providing great customer service! Engage people. Delight them.  Make them want to come to you and do business.  Self checkout may be helpful in some cases, but forcing people to use it as a primary option achieves the opposite.  And then modifying the policies that are less consumer friendly exacerbates that. 

Do that one thing really well, and I think you'd see a change in behavior as a starting point.

Dave’s latest video

Here's the most popular video from my Lost & Found series: John Lennon & the Lost Weekend. https://youtu.be/hm8tDZj120U

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