Dave’s Musings
You may have noticed that chocolate prices are increasing. Why, you may ask? It's a combination of things including illegal gold mining, mismanagement of the land, and everyone's favorite topic: climate change.
Once again, climate change has a direct impact on us, and threatens something most of us enjoy.
Another player emerged in the space launch arena. Stratolaunch is doing something similar to Virgin Galactic in that they are dropping a hypersonic aircraft from a larger airplane. So far, they are focused on payloads that need to be hypersonic for various reasons - but the plan is to be able to send the craft into low Earth orbit for experimentation or to release a satellite. https://gizmodo.com/stratolaunch-first-hypersonic-test-flight-roc-ta-1-1851325099 |
Scientists have discovered that Miassite, when grown in a lab, can perform as superconductors - materials that can conduct electricity without energy loss. Its incredible to find this out, since it is a naturally occurring element that can be formed in a lab to increase its viability. And because this can happen at a temperature close to room temperature, and doesn't react with other elements (like metal does) this has exciting possibilities. https://phys.org/news/2024-03-scientists-reveal-unconventional-superconductor-mineral.html |
A while ago, there was a rumor that Tesla and Disney were partnering to update the old "go karts" that run on gasoline, to go fully electric. It seemed fanciful yet pretty cool. Autopia at DisneyLand and The Tomorrowland Speedway would help lead to a new future, and we could finally get rid of the gas fumes. Sadly, that turned out to be nothing more than a rumor. But a good idea is a good idea. And about a week ago, Disney announced that they will be changing over to electric, on their own, at Autopia in DisneyLand. Details will be forthcoming, and it remains to be seen when a transition might happen at Disney World, but I'm definitely in favor of Tomorrowland being forward-looking for the first time in a while. |
Europe has been charging hard at Apple for some time. And now the Department of Justice is coming at them, too. But I admit to being a little confused about this. Apple came up with a phone that was proprietary and then came up with an eco system that it resided within. And because of their own patents and business practices, its working as it was designed. But at issue is that they "don't play nice" with their competitors and that they are anti-competitive with what they do. But isn't that essentially what corporations do? Don't they carve out a niche and then excel at it? It seems odd that this is a problem. But maybe that's just me. |
Latest video | Here is the story about the Haunted Mansion at DisneyLand and Walt Disney World https://youtu.be/2Esfyq-gxXc |
One Little Spark … | There's a pretty good long form article (behind a paywall, of course) about how Amazon ran a bit of a scheme to reduce their workforce by putting people on "improvement plans" for various reasons, and then getting rid of them (ostensibly) for cause, so they wouldn't be due any sort of separation package. They refer to it as "quiet firing" ... This caught my attention because I recently visited Texas, and read and heard about its rather rich history, with regard to Mexico, the slave trade, how they dealt with indigenous people, and how they came to be a republic and later a state. Free, white people felt a sense of pride to be from there. But others, maybe not so much. A term that kept coming up was "obligation" - for those that were involved in fighting against Spain, Mexico, and later against the Union, it was about being a part of something. About becoming Texas. But for those that were not, it was about being obliged to follow along and just go with it. They had little to no say, and generally weren't treated that well. And I know, I'm painting with a broad brush here. It just struck me that the idea of the company having control - and rank and file employees just having to roll with things was interesting in that context. |
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