Dave’s Musings
I find it odd that while the rest of the world makes every effort to go cashless and increase the adoption and usage of credit card, the United States continues to make using credit cards harder.
Retail establishments are offering a lower price for cash (or debit cards, which have shockingly little security on them). Legislation has been introduced at the federal level to limit how much credit issuers can charge and to move to a single network (depending on who runs it, the rate charged can be different).
And as a result, credit card companies, facing lower fees (and profits) are starting to tighten the perks and benefits of having a card, or plan to charge you more in order to take advantage of these benefits. In other words, the value proposition to you as a consumer gets worse as a result of these changes.
Throw in there bolder moves - like a possible merger between Capital one and Discover - and you have a less competitive market place that will drive consumers to want to use cash to make a transaction, or to simply write a check for larger transactions - which isn't exactly cashless.
| I recently stumbled onto a site that accesses NORADs tracking database and allows you to see all of the objects in space.
Head over to https://www.n2yo.com/satellite/?s=25544 (I have it set to show the ISS), and play around. Its kind of fun. |
| A couple of scientists posited that a "Quantum Drive" could be used to provide a sort of thrust to maneuver objects in space. The science behind it is a little "sketchy" and it relies on mathematics rather than mechanics to operate.
According to these scientists, this would upend physics, because it defies some of the basics laws that we use to define the universe.
Nevertheless, these scientists created what they thought would be a prototype and launched it late in 2023.
...It was called "Dud in space" because it didn't power on, and then contact was lost.
So for the moment, the idea of a quantum drive remains entirely theoretical.
https://futurism.com/the-byte/contact-lost-spacecraft-quantum-drive |
| On the proxy war: Nelson Peltz put a 130 page(!) whitepaper, documenting specifically what he thinks needs to change at Disney, and how he can help.
Out of curiosity, I flipped through it, and while he makes a few good points, it sure reads like someone with an axe to grind.
He refers to it as a manifesto, and I think I'd agree. While I appreciate that some change is needed, I think the biggest problem is at the top, specific to the CEO.
Hopefully, he gets the message and plans an actual succession plan. And steps aside in the very near future.
https://restorethemagic.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Disney-Trian-White-Paper-2024.pdf |
| American football has a system for measuring a 10-yard distance to obtain a first down that is a chain between two poles. Teams have four plays to do so. When the ball passes the poll that's 10 yards down the field, its a new set of 4 plays.
Here we are in the 21st century, and when its close to the marker, they bring the chains and poles on the field and measure to see if they got the yardage - sometimes absurdly, like putting a card between pole and where they arbitrarily spotted the ball.
The NFL has been playing around with an optical system to replace it. And during this past season, they tested it out - with a good deal of success. And they "may" want to use it in the future.
But its apparently too costly to upgrade all the stadiums and make it work for later this year, so they're hopeful it can be in a few years. A billion dollar organization can't find a way to implement technology they have already tested? That's funny.
There's also some discussion about the people who hold these poles. They might be out of work! Except, they are people hired by the stadium to make a small sum to just watch the game from the sidelines, and hold up a pole. So yeah, about that....
Still, I was glad to hear they were considering a new bit of technology to keep up with the times. |
One Little Spark …
| I can never understand why (among a few issues) we can't have a rational and intelligent conversation about abortion. Sure, its a thorny issue. But pull away the politics, and pull away the religious aspects, and maybe we can discuss the base questions. Of course, we can't seem to do that, and then we conflate "family planning" and contraception into the issue and we're making it sort of an all or nothing proposition.
Then there's legislation, like what appeared in Alabama. They have essentially redefined an embryo as a child. One of the justices reviewing the case absurdly invoked god in his ruling.
And the legislation's fallout led to the inevitable "law of unintended consequences."
First, there was a petition filed with the court that posits that if embryos are children, and children are eligible in the state for healthcare, then mothers need to be provided with prenatal healthcare by the state, without any exceptions or restrictions.
And more importantly, in IVF sometimes the embryos are "wasted" for various reasons, are not viable, or do not produce children. Under the law, if anyone is involved in the loss of embryos, they will have committed a felony. So the answer for hospitals was to simply stop any and all in-vitro fertilization.
This enraged certain people who only wanted to stop abortion, but still intended to help women who are unable to conceive. But alas, the law they wrote has consequences.
So would anyone like to have an honest discussion now? |
Dave’s Musings
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.