This is where we are

I'm happy that justice prevailed  - but I weep for our nation because people still support this shit stain of a person  

On graduation

I went to my sons college graduation and as I sat in the audience, I felt a sense of pride. Its his accomplishment of course, but I'd like to think I had some influence on him. 

But the reason for this post was something that occurred to me. When I graduated college, I had this deep sense of pride, of accomplishment, of feeling like I'd reached some pinnacle. Like it was bigger than me. 

But I also remembered going through whatever catechism class and having my first communion. An uncle (who went on to become a pastor) asked how I felt. Did I feel god or some such nonsense. 

I admit I felt a sort of bigger than myself moment. 

And later I realized that this is the intent of all of these ceremonies that involve a form of pomp and circumstance. 

Whether it's religious in nature or academic the same feelings are evoked. 

And this idea that I might have "felt god" is simply absurd. 

Look at that…

The program has a net positive effect. Why are so many people opposed to it?

Maybe because some don't want anyone to have opportunities. It's better for "business" - if more people remain somewhat oppressed, uneducated, and poor, then you have more ability to control them. 

https://www.businessinsider.com/immigrants-new-mexico-basic-income-for-housing-healthcare-ubi-gbi2024-5

Bitchin' Dave's Newsletter - May 28

 Dave’s Musings

I find it hard to believe, but this newsletter marks my one year anniversary of sharing my musings!

A little bit of housekeeping. I will be taking some time off over the next month. I plan to return with a new format newsletter sometime in July. Keep an eye out for it!

This view of the ISS is pretty cool And it's good to know that there are actually organizations looking at all the space junk. It's a step…

Scientists found human footprints that were believed to be more than 10,000 years old - but actually turned out to be more than twice as old.  And that suggests that are theories about when humans first set foot into North America may be incorrect.  https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/archaeology/a60790672/23000-year-old-footprints/

Walt Disney had dreams, plans, and ambitions.  He created a department called WED enterprises that brought together creative minds with can-do attitudes to build all manner of things.   He let their creativity run wild, and many of their innovations are on display in the theme parks (and a few beyond). This group was rebranded as Imagineering at some point after Walt's death, but still had that spirit, that ability to create. They went through ups and downs, and had a spell where their creativity was tempered by marketing looking at how they could profit off the ideas - other than simply using them in the themeparks. Creativity was reportedly stifled, and there was some turnover in the group (and some left to go to other theme parks and entertainment businesses). But now it would seem that things are turning back around and their creativity is a nice hybrid of cool tech coupled with some "possibility" of revenue generation. Take a look behind the scenes via the Hollywood Reporter. https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/disney-imagineering-parks-1235880265/

Here's something fun... there's a theory that you can boost productivity by going to the movies during the work day.  I found that it worked for me, so why not try it yourself... https://www.cnbc.com/2024/05/09/want-to-boost-your-productivity-hit-the-movies-during-work-expert-says.html

Latest video

This video contains some audio that Jack Wagner created for the Walt Disney world monorail.  Episode 72: Jack Wagner monorail spiels https://youtu.be/blDHJPmWimE

One Little Spark …

This is a story about a Girl Scout who opened a "Banned Book Lending Library" as a community service project. It was a great thing, and the scouts gave her some recognition for it. And then her school wanted to also give her some recognition as well....only the school wouldn't use the word "banned" in their honorarium, because they were true to their own stupidity, and banned the word so as to not call attention to how dumb they are. And thus called more attention to it. #IdiotsInCharge https://www.scarymommy.com/parenting/gold-award-girl-scout-book-banning

Sad news…

Because it’s always about what “they” want

Another example of woke gone wild. Florida passed laws that prohibit companies (you know privately held, or publicly traded who have no direct business with the state. And who provide tax dollars to the state and provide jobs!) from implementing any DEI initiatives. 

Aside: I thought Florida prided (see what I did there?) itself in free enterprise and letting companies be unregulated. 

And the state thinks Starbucks had violated that law and simply must investigate!

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/florida-starbucks-probe-diversity-ron-desantis-hannity/

The world is stupid

White alpha male gets passed over for a screen writer job, and sues for discrimination. And yes it's in the woke context. 

https://deadline.com/2024/05/cbs-claims-first-amendment-allows-select-writers-in-discrimination-lawsuit-response-1235929362/

Bitchin' Dave's Newsletter - May 21

 Dave’s Musings

I saw this and it got me to thinking... the land around Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City is a blight of parking lots - which are only used 10 times a year, or so.  That land could be used for so much more, so many better things.

It should serve as a reminder that we can be better.

https://www.thecooldown.com/green-business/arrowhead-stadium-parking-lot-reddit-photo/

Looks like the Artemis vehicle had some issues with its heat shield that need to be resolved.  What continues to surprise and amaze me is that the old world NASA contractors are relying on what was learned during the Apollo missions, and trying to extend on those things.  But technology has advanced significantly during those 50 years, but they're not really using those advancements "smartly" To be fair, it's not that they're using technology from 50 years ago, it's more that they are using concepts learned from that era, rather than trying new things.  https://futurism.com/nasa-inspector-alarmed-damage-heatshield-moon

I read two articles about Alzheimer's recently...the first was about some some things you can do to help yourself; and most notably diet and exercise are at the top of the list. The second suggests that the effects can perhaps be mitigated through aromatherapy of all things! Right now, the focus is on menthol, but certainly there could be other findings in the future. https://www.cnn.com/2024/05/18/health/alzheimers-blood-brain-improvement-wellness/index.html https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/could-inhaling-menthol-help-improve-memory-in-alzheimers-disease

This is a long form article about the guy who was at the heart of the proxy fight.  I'll let you read it and form your own opinions.  But I will leave you with this: this is the kind of person we need to hear less from in society. Perhaps Disney could do more to help itself, but the specific things he points out are....pretty old man thinking. https://english.elpais.com/culture/2024-04-30/disney-why-do-we-need-a-cast-made-up-of-only-women-or-blacks-how-nelson-peltz-beckhams-father-in-law-is-trying-to-change-the-company.html

A vegan cheese won an award for being an excellent cheese, and so dairy farmers conspired to disqualify the winner because its not made with milk and therefore not cheese. People get so hung up on trivial things - cheese, milk, beef, chicken, these are all words we are familiar with and have a specific meaning in general. But why can't these things include both plant and animal based products? Just label it accordingly, and list the ingredients.  I am not sure why it matters.  Andrew Zimmern in his "Bizarre Foods" show used to use the tagline "if it looks good, eat it" which I think sums this up well. Personally, I don't eat mammals, but I will eat eggs and cow/sheep/goat milk products.  Some of the plant based alternatives are okay, but most of them I don't care for.  But if someone wants to eat animal products - or cares not to eat any of them - why do I care? Eat what makes you happy. https://boingboing.net/2024/04/29/after-a-vegan-blue-cheese-won-the-good-food-award-panicked-dairy-cheese-makers-forced-the-foundation-to-disqualify-it.html

Latest video

I've got some thoughts about Tesla the company, and some recent decisions. https://youtu.be/-c71xydTYMY

One Little Spark …

Recently, I posted a video about charging my EV, and then leaving it outside in the heat; the fans ran and it drained the battery a bit - which meant I had to charge along the way home (if it had remained near to 100%, I wouldn't have had to stop). Innocuous, but interesting, and thats why I posted a video. Except that there was a very strange series of comments that came in. The first was that "EVs are gay" because apparently middle school taunts are where its at. As if that somehow is an insult? “EVs are a scam.” “I don't ever want to worry about charging.” And so on... Then it shifted to some mildly personal attacks and “I’m a sheeple and do what I’m told” … ...until we got to the inevitable: “the government can't tell me what to do. I'm never driving one!” Which descended further into a bit of a rabbit hole, until I turned off comments. The government can't tell me what to do. Except, of course, that they can and do... and when its something that you agree with for whatever reason, then its okay. It’s so strange the way we've decided to draw lines in the sand about some topics and defend them with fervor. Even when it really is out of context...I was talking about my specific experience with something that I chose to purchase. And it turned into something unexpected and weird.

Miami meteorologist Steve MacLaughlin airs unusual climate change warning

"Please keep in mind, the most powerful climate change solution is the one you already have in the palm of your hands: the right to vote,"

https://www.axios.com/2024/05/20/meteorologist-climate-warning-miami

This bugs me

Every year, we hear some inane story about some prodigy who applies to very many colleges and gets accepted into most/all of them. 

And of course, they can only actually attend - checks notes - one of them.   

I have no issue if a prospective student applies to several, because you are playing against odds. 

But in this case, there are somewhere around 110 qualified students who applied to these universities - but were rejected because this kid wanted to be a show off ass about it. 

And of course, that says nothing of the offered scholarships that are unlikely to be given to the next student who has a real need. 

It's stupid.  

https://www.cnn.com/2024/05/18/us/helms-ategeka-college-acceptance-cec/index.html

Ed Dwight finally makes it to space!

https://abcnews.go.com/US/ed-dwight-nasas-1st-black-astronaut-candidate-finally/story?id=110365447

This is cool

Scientists found human footprints that were believed to be more than 10,000 years old - but actually turned out to be more than twice as old. 

And that suggests that are theories about when humans first set foot into North America may be incorrect. 

https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/archaeology/a60790672/23000-year-old-footprints/

This view of the ISS is pretty cool

And it's good to know that there's actually organizations looking at all the space junk. It's a step…

Sir Charles makes a splash

Love that Charles Barkley comes through with a domination in support of the teens who proved the Pythagoras theorem. 

https://www.yahoo.com/news/charles-barkley-donate-1m-st-193815138.html

Good on her!

17 year old gets doctorate after entering college at 10…

https://apnews.com/article/teen-phd-doctorate-arizona-faabf1ca930f141f6a9690419d7a2b47

Exxon Mobil is suing its shareholders…

…to get them to not talk about climate change.

How fucked up is that?!

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/column-exxon-mobil-suing-shareholders-100046384.html

.

Bitchin' Dave's Newsletter - May 14

 Dave’s Musings

I recently broke my wrist. And can I just say that the quality of care I received was outstanding. But the system associated with healthcare is so broken!

Figuring out the costs, whats in network, which tier the expense is in, and whether you can have a procedure without breaking the bank...these are all things that are so ridiculously absurd. We can do better!

The James Webb Space Telescope caused some amount of controversy in the cosmological space.  The way the universe appeared through its sensors appeared to conflict with what we had previously learned through observation and other studies. But ... after taking some time to really evaluate the results, and how they relate to, say, what we see with the Hubble Space Telescope, scientists are re-thinking what they observe, and maybe there is no cosmological crisis after all. It would appear that the old and new findings likely do agree, but IMHO its about perspective.  You might think about it in the same way that you think about relativity.  The location of the observer is a factor in understanding that theory - much like the positioning of the various spacecraft helps us to understand the universe. https://bigthink.com/hard-science/james-webb-space-telescope-cosmology/

GM is trying to create a totally new battery configuration.  Early development was going well, and they were on to something and got a patent.  But they are struggling to build this at scale for a number of reasons.   Still, I like what they are thinking, and it may just take a while longer to get there. https://www.thecooldown.com/green-tech/gm-ev-battery-patent-general-motors/

Maybe you could join the growing community that is WFD (working from Disney). I know I've seen my share of people apparently talking work on the phone, and people with laptops open (especially in the hotels) diligently plying their trade. And to be honest, this is something I did for more than a decade while working a full time job. I would sneak off to visit the parks for a day or two, and take a call here and there so I was "working"… I rather enjoyed that way of thinking about not being confined to an office. I reflect fondly about those times. And if you're a Disney fan, I recommend it! https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/social-media/disney-world-adult-visitors-increasingly-mix-remote-work-play-rcna149882

I read this and thought .... you know its funny.  When a company does something that people get offended by they use silly terms like "go woke, go broke" ... but when its a good old, fashioned southern restaurant chain that has done nothing to offend, there's a list of rational-sounding reasons why they're struggling. And yes, you can apply these same reasons to most of the struggling businesses today, and not their "woke-ness" https://www.mashed.com/1553656/reasons-cracker-barrel-struggling/

Latest video

I'm looking at my Teslas total cost of ownership https://youtu.be/ifoc3BLr8_Q?si=C4cIrh17plq6oXik

One Little Spark …

Two teens came up with a trigonometric proof of the Pyhtagoream Theorem … something mathematicians have been unable to do.  And the truly great part is that they aren't math whizzes. They just put their heads together and figured out a solution to a problem for extra credit and a little cash incentive.  The sad part is that they received some backlash because they are black women, "who couldn't possibly have solved this" because people are just too stupid to accept that we are all just people - born with the same innate curiosity and ability to solve problems.  https://www.cbsnews.com/news/teens-come-up-with-trigonometry-proof-for-pythagorean-theorem-60-minutes-transcript/

We need to hear from fewer people like this

The headline should be: Mouth breathing idiot lets his "faith" hinder his ability to think. 

Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker bashes Pride Month, tells women to stay in the kitchen touchdownwire.usatoday.com

Man is this dumb

Apparently, they wrote rules to keep out burger and chicken chains from a mall. But they didn't consider taco chains. 

And so a judge ruled that a taco is a Mexican sandwich. Which is both incorrect and hilarious. 

https://www.wane.com/top-stories/tacos-are-mexican-style-sandwiches-local-judge-clears-path-for-new-famous-taco/

I read banned books

 This is a story about a Girl Scout who opened a "Banned Book Lending Library" as a community service project.

It was a great thing, and the scouts give her some recognition for it.

And then her school wanted to also give her some recognition as well....only the school wouldn't used the word "banned" in their honorarium, because they were true to their own stupidity, and banned the word so as to not call attention to how dumb they are.

And thus called more attention to it.

#IdiotsInCharge

https://www.scarymommy.com/parenting/gold-award-girl-scout-book-banning

About the future of moon missions

Looks like the Artemis vehicle had some issues with its heat shield that need to be resolved. 

What continues to surprise and amaze me is that the old world NASA contractors are relying on what was learned during the Apollo missions, and trying to extend on those things. 

But technology has advanced significantly during those 50 years, but they're not really using those advancements "smartly"

To be fair, it's not that they're using technology from 50 years ago, it's more that they are using concepts learned from that era, rather than trying new things. 

https://futurism.com/nasa-inspector-alarmed-damage-heatshield-moon

I have done this and it works

Boost productivity by going to the movies during the work day. 

https://www.cnbc.com/2024/05/09/want-to-boost-your-productivity-hit-the-movies-during-work-expert-says.html

Bitchin' Dave's Newsletter - May 7

 Dave’s Musings

I typically don't make this space about politics, per se. I do talk about things like social issues and climate change that have become political hot topics, but that's usually the extent of my musings.

But I have to ask the question: how is the "orange menace" still relevant? How is it that there's even a chance he could win an election again? Shouldn't the person leading the most powerful nation be a decent person? Smart and savvy enough to lead without emotion? Should s/he be a person that is beyond reproach?

He incited the insurrection, and essentially committed an act of sedition. There are very many charges that have been filed directly related to this. He undermined the Constitution, and people are okay with this?

And beyond that: he's a fraud, and a tax cheat, as we learned through the trial in NY. He raped a woman, as we learned in another case - and later he defamed her and she won a second judgement against her. He's currently in a courtroom where he faces charges of providing hush money (illegally) to a porn star - who he had sex with after his (4th!) wife gave birth. He repeatedly violates court orders because he only cares about himself. He doesn't sound like a good guy, or a christian does he?

And so on and so on. And hey there's evidence he committed treason while in office (though he was never charged with anything - although there are many questions about to whom he showed classified documents, and perhaps what will come out in a trial).

I simply can not understand why people are still following him like he's someone to be worshipped and idolized.

Are we that dumb?

You may recall that the psyche mission had a major component that was an ability to send larger amounts of data from longer distances.  Until now, we've been using radio waves to transmit data from longer distances (though we have compressed data from shorter distances, which ups the amount of data that can be returned). This technology allows us to use lasers to achieve the mission parameter, about 1 MBps.  While it was still "near" to earth, they transmitted a prerecorded cat video with no data loss.  Now, they are transmitting telemetry and "new" data from a distance about 1.5 as far as the earth to the sun … and achieving an astonishing 25 MBps.  It's exciting. And opens up new possibilities for deep space communication.   It's a function of the equipment used and distance, but for context, Apollo missions to the moon had a latency of about 3 seconds. This would be essentially real time.   https://www.iflscience.com/nasa-just-received-laser-message-beamed-from-a-colossal-226-million-kilometers-away-73968

GM is trying to create a totally new battery configuration.  Early development was going well, and they were on to something and got a patent.  But they are struggling to build this at scale for a number of reasons.   Still, I like what they are thinking, and it may just take a while longer to get there. https://www.thecooldown.com/green-tech/gm-ev-battery-patent-general-motors/

There was a post to a theme-park site that "allows for all views" (or some such nonsense; its clearly skewed to the conservative point of view, so I shan't link to it here) about a manufactured problem someone had at Disney World. In short, when they visited a character themed meal, the Malificent character was "quite clearly a man" and they were offended! The horror! They recounted their interaction with the cast members, and no one could absolutely confirm it was a woman (though I would argue that based on their own account, Disney did, in fact, do just that). They railed about how "woke" it is, and how things are going downhill, and how drag queens shouldn't be around children! As I say, the horror!. They also pointed to a TikTok featuring a male castmember at the Bibidi Bobidi Boutique (where your little one can made up to be a princess - or prince), who was dressed in what you might think of as a female's costume (as per Disney's costume policy). And that led the poster to say it has gone too far! And they wanted people to know about the offense to their sensibility "as christians"... the comments on the post were supportive of the poster. But the comments on other sites were not nearly as kind to him (hey look at me assuming its a him, what's wrong with me?!) While it appears the character was a woman based on their comments, I point out that Disney represents society on the whole. When I was working there 30+ years ago, hair had to be a certain length, no facial hair was allowed, and tattoos were forbidden. All of these things have changed, and while it "feels different" than what it used to be, it is exactly what we see when we leave the theme parks, and even among the guests that are there. So...what is the big deal? And why cause a stir about something so insanely trivial?

I found this interesting. We had another bit of space debris return to earth recently. Scientists suggested it would burn up on reentry and thus didn't plot an exact course for its de-orbit.  It did not burn up. It did hit a house on the west coast of Florida and caused some amount of damage to the house and the surroundings.  The homeowner talked with the insurance company about repairs, and were told that they'd have to pay the deductible - and that would not cover some of the other damage.  This was not something that happened to the house due to an issue inside. This was not a natural disaster. And yet, insurance told them "sorry." And then there was a complicating factor that the debris in question was part of a European space agency experiment. Which may have made this an international issue. But since it was attached to the ISS (which is under NASAs purveyance), NASA agreed to cover at least some of the costs.  But it leads to much bigger questions. Can we accurately predict what will happen with these things? Who is responsible? What if it was a private company's satellite? What if people were actually harmed?  There's a lot of junk in space, and we need to be planning to do something with it.  https://www.npr.org/2024/04/23/1243676256/space-station-junk-hits-florida-home-liability

Latest video

I charged to 100% then left the car in the sun… and didn’t have enough energy to get home… https://youtube.com/shorts/4S1bcR-rTak?feature=share

One Little Spark …

Two things happened a few weeks ago that are welcome news: salaried employees making around $58k or less will be due overtime if their hours exceed 40 in a week. It stops organizations from taking advantage of salaried employees in the middle management group.  And then there was the decision to do away with non-compete clauses, meaning employees are free to leave and go and work elsewhere without consequence.  Companies HATE this and are suing to stop it. In so many words, companies are saying their work is so important and so secret that they have to prevent employees from leaving; and rubbing salt in the wound by saying "we don't care about you - only our profit!" Here's to hoping things continue to tilt in favor of the workers… https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/us-noncompete-agreements-overtime-pay-affect-workers-109589079