An open letter to my senators

I would like to remind you that your job is to represent your constituents, while supporting and defending the constitution. It is NOT to say simply "hand over the keys" to our democracy to the person in the Oval Office 

Our system of checks and balances was designed so that you actually hold that person to account, and don't simply let them run amok as an authoritarian. 

You are allowing Mr Trump to simply do as he pleases, taking legislation, foreign policy, taxation, eliminating government roles, and deciding unilaterally on funding into his own hands while you sit idly by and let it occur. 

And worse, you are allowing one of the worlds richest men - who I might remind you lied on his immigration paper work and therefore (by definition) is here illegally - to do as he pleases and heavily influence decisions that are being made in the office. 

So while it's bad enough you are just turn a blind eye to the president and his actions, it's worse that we are being essentially governed by a person who is not elected and should be held accountable in his own right. 

Do your job Senator. Remember that you were elected by the citizens of Florida to uphold the constitution, and you can't simply just let one person take over the entirety of government. 

Bad editing

Feel?

Cause?

Regret?

Use?

Disney's Star Wars Hotel to Become Offices

I mean it only cost a billion dollars and was - by all accounts - a total failure. 

So why not repurpose it into something that doesn't build on your brand at all?  Just make it an office complex and move on!

Remember, though, that it was an immersive experience that was supposed to feel like you were in space. So the building has no windows (and if you're thinking about the haunted mansion it has no windows and no doors!) 

But for the people working there they could sell it as "Every day I arrive for work and sit in a windowless office but can 'stare into space'… And then Darth maul comes by and asks if my work is done."

Or maybe this could be Disneys next marketing idea. You pay *them* to work there for a day or a week or a month and you can enjoy the perks of being in this office!

https://www.thewrap.com/star-wars-hotel-disney-starcruiser-coverted-into-offices/

Another competitor in space travel

Introducing sierra, with its space plane. It looks kinda like the space shuttle, but with different wing surfaces. 

The objective is to be able to ferry people and cargo to the ISS in a slightly different, reusable format. 

Here's to another level of innovation! 

https://www.popsci.com/science/spaceplane-test/

Sample from the asteroid reveals something interesting

Building Blocks Of Life Found On Asteroid Bennu

While it doesn't mean that there's life elsewhere in the universe, finding building blocks for life is intriguing and suggests that we have a lot more to learn about life and how it exists. 

This is kind of a cool discovery, and hopefully will get us to do more study about our universe. 

https://www.sciencefriday.com/segments/asteroid-bennu-sample-life/

Proving once again that no one has a clue

Of course no one can define woke, but Megyn Kelly seems to have trouble identifying things that would be in the general woke space. 

Glad Melissa Gilbert set her straight… though I'm sure Kelly will ignore the comment because it's all about an agenda and eschews reality. 

https://ew.com/melissa-gilbert-reacts-to-megyn-kelly-little-house-on-the-prairie-woke-comment-8783612

DEI in the news

The term "woke" was so 2024.  Now we're on to talking about "Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion" with the same derision.  

One of the early actions T-rump took was to talk about how DEI programs need to stop, because they are... something.  I don't know what, its just word soup (like woke was before it).

Many companies decided to just go along with it, and just dropped their initiatives.  Which shows that these companies and their leadership never took the programs seriously, it was just done for appearances.  I mean, if you just flow with the politics that quickly, and move on to curry favor with "dear leader," then we have to assume you never expected anything from it anyway.

Then we had the plane crash in DC, which caused T-rump to blame DEI for it! Which is both a not-so-subtle way of saying that he wants white men in charge, and also would suggest he's trying to pull a magicians trick, and shift focus away from something else by getting people lathered up about DEI. 

Oh but it doesn't end there.  Costco said they planned to continue their program, and would wait for shareholders to weigh in on how it should evolve.  Which led to 19 attroneys general (need I mention that they're all from GOP-led states?) to band together  and send a letter to Costco telling them that T-rumps executive order made clear they needed to do away with the program, and they will pursue legal action if Costco doesn't listen.

Bad enough that they're bullying a private company for its own hiring practices that conform with the law.  But worse was this line in said letter: "Costco should not have policies that discriminate in hiring based on race or gender," 

Which I read as "you need to hire more straight, white men."

https://www.businessinsider.com/costco-dei-letter-republican-attorneys-general-2025-1

Starliner astronauts

As you may recall, last year Boeing launched two astronauts to the International Space Station. The spacecraft had an issue and had to be returned without the astronauts.  

The two astronauts were prepared for a week in space, but it went to many weeks, then months, and now is coming around on a year.  While some of the time, they've "twiddled their thumbs," they have made the most of their time and have remained fairly upbeat.

The story goes that at some point in late summer, NASA made a decision to retrieve the astronauts using a SpaceX Dragon capsule that would be launched empty.  This was never intended to be something done with a sense of urgency; the plan was ALWAYS to send that mission up in about March of 2025.  The astronauts were aware of this, and so were we.

But the reporting on this was confusing, and somehow it appeared that the mission kept slipping and maybe they'd get a rescue soon.  Then they were referred to as "stranded" which they really aren't (and worst case, they could sit in a proverbial rumble seat of another returning rocket).

Anyway, Elon Musk gets elected ... I mean T-rump get elected and Musk has oversight into NASA's doings.  T-rump says "we need to get them home!" and Musk responds on his stupid social platform saying "The @POTUS has asked @SpaceX to bring home the 2 astronauts stranded on the @Space_Station as soon as possible. We will do so. Terrible that the Biden administration left them there so long," 

Which is disingenuous and stupid.  See my previous comment about how this was the plan all along.  But gotta pass blame and refer to them as stranded.  

And the media - without a moment of thought - just runs with it.  Sad!

Dear Fortune 500 Boards of Directors

Since the second inauguration of T-rump to the presidency, we have seen all manner of unqualified people being placed in positions of great power.  Doesn't matter if you have skills, experience, or aptitude for the job; anyone can hold any position!!

With that in mind, I am applying for the CEO position at your company,  I have never led a company.  I am probably unqualified for it.  Nevertheless, I urge you to place me in the role because I was bold enough to ask!  

I am declining to post or send a resume, because that simply doesn't matter.

Please reach out to schedule my start date.  

Thank you, and I look forward to leading your company in a direction.

This made me chuckle

Throughout 2024, Apple promised a new version of CarPlay.  But they didn't deliver.  And then on January 24th of 2025, they finally updated their website to say "oops its not coming in 2024."

https://www.theverge.com/2025/1/24/24350909/apple-next-gen-carplay-missed-2024-launch-deadline

The Walmart Effect - The Atlantic

It makes communities it operates in poorer. Because it displaces other businesses, so unemployment goes up. And their wages are lower, so people have lower incomes. 

But they offer low prices! Isn't that enough? Sadly. No. 


https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2024/12/walmart-prices-poverty-economy/681122/

Disney CEO Bob Iger’s Total Pay Jumps 30% To $41.1 Million

That's just insane. 

How many rank and file workers saw a 30% increase in pay? (hint: none)

And if we make a bold assumption that the average Disney employee makes around $40k per year, that means he's making about 1,000 times their salary. 

Ain't nobody. NOBODY. Who is that much more valuable than anyone else, regardless of what they will tell you.

https://deadline.com/2025/01/disney-ceo-bob-iger-2024-pay-jumps-41-million-1236265804/

Smart glasses

Gotta love the idea of glasses that can track your eye movement and then present information based on where you look. And to be able to do it non invasively with a small device is pretty cool. 

Now if they could adapt that so those of us with myopia could automatically adjust the lens so we didn't need to have a new prescription for changing eyes, I'd be all for it. 😉

https://www.hackster.io/news/looking-to-the-future-of-smart-glasses-941d9a0fcaf8

Better solar panels

Here's an intriguing article about how black silicone can be used to create a more textured surface than traditional silicone used in solar panel development. 

And that surface can then absorb more radiant energy and be more efficient in a panel, and at a lower cost. 

This could possibly change the market for solar, though we'll see how it goes  

https://www.ecoticias.com/en/black-silicon-is-the-end-solar-panels/10308/

Disney Hit With Copyright Lawsuit For Moana 2

Here's a story about how an animator believes that Disney stole his work for the Moana movie. 

It's not the first time Disney has been accused of stealing someone else's work; they were sued over most of the animations that came out in the 90s. Those were settled out of court or Disney won, so they didn't get a lot of press. 

"Buck Woodall claims that the Moana movies infringe on the copyrighted screenplay for his movie Bucky, which was given in 2003 - along with a concept trailer and other materials - to Jenny Marchick, Mandeville Films' Director of Development, who had a first look deal with Disney."

Still, it's worth following this story. 

https://screenrant.com/moana-2-copyright-lawsuit-disney-buck-woodall-report/

Seeing maps differently

Here's a fun collection of people showing us how maps can be deceptive. 

This is due at least in part to an inability to adequately reconstruct a 3D sphere on a 2D flat surface.  

We wind up centering things, and enlarging the scale (North America I'm looking at you!) on maps, and it makes everything more confusing to visualize correctly.  

https://pleated-jeans.com/2025/01/19/funny-interesting-maps/

It's no wonder some people get confused about geography in a spatial sense. And since I'm on that topic, here are some thoughts about what we often get wrong. 

https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/why-your-mental-map-world-probably-wrong/

And just because I have a pet peeve about it,  the earth is a globe. Anyone who suggests that it's flat is …. well … stupid. 

Automated “intelligence” or just plain stupidity?

Our dryer broke. I repaired it. It broke again, and that was it.  We decided to replace it, and since the washer was acting up, we decided to replace it too

My wife called LG and placed an order - directly - with whatever discounts they offered her. We got confirmation and heard from the company delivering it.  A few weeks passed, and we didn't get any updates.

We called. And? 

The order was cancelled, apparently because the price was deemed to be too low and their automation decided it was fraudulent. And the person in customer service was unable to help.  

They gave so many excuses.  The best was that we needed to check with our bank to see why the amount was declined. Because that makes so much sense. 

It's kind of funny in a way. But more than that it's sad that it's this hard.

Anyway, my wife kept calling and asking for assistance, and then they offered her 10% off full price retail - even though the discount we had before was a larger percentage off of a sales price.  

More calls.  She finally got someone who could help.  He offered her the same price on the washer and dryer - but the washer was out of stock, and the deal was only good for a couple of days (longer than it will take to get a washer in stock).  They had it in stock in another color, but they couldn't honor the price for that model (even though it was less expensive in that color).

So the agent told her she was welcome to buy it elsewhere - at full retail price.

Its kind of unbelievable just how bad customer has become.  They offered us the price, then they cancelled it, and no one has the ability to honor what they offered us. Nor does anyone really care. They literally were trying to wear us down until we gave up. All over some appliances that will likely last 5 years because quality isn't a thing anymore, either. 

And for us, it means we'll be without a dryer for longer while we keep looking for another set. 

The backstory of made up words

I always find etymology interesting. But here's a case where words in written text were used for typesetting originally. More recently, they have been used to fill in a page, so you can see the page layout (which is a form of modern day typesetting I suppose). 

"Lorem Ipsum" doesn't actually mean anything. So where did it come from?

https://wordsmarts.com/lorem-ipsum/

Possible evidence of water on mars

The Curiosity rover went over an area that has all the tell-tale signs we have on earth for this being a likely former lake bed. 

It's intriguing, I have to say. Mars may very well have been like earth at some point, maybe millions or 100s of millions of years ago. 

https://www.sciencealert.com/curiosity-finds-evidence-of-open-water-on-ancient-mars

There will be no yeti in Utah

The Utah hockey club held a naming contest and The Yetis won, so the club applied for patent protection for the name. 

If you're keeping score at home, all major sports teams get trademarks so that no one else can produce merchandise using that name. Sure, it protects them from another club using the name and causing some confusion, but if we're being honest it's about money. 

The trademark office said no, because it might be confused with the yeti cooler products which already have the yeti brand trademarked. 

Sure the hockey club would be yetis with an s, but because they will sell merchandise including mugs and coolers, there likely will be confusion by the consumer. 

That leaves the hockey club these likely options:

1. Respond to the trademark office, and try and convince them that it's different. - this would probably end up in expensive and time consuming litigation 

2. Find a way to work with the Yeti brand (thus eliminating the confusion) - this would probably be infeasible 

3. Select another name - while this makes the most sense, will a billionaire accept defeat?

https://www.ksl.com/article/51234156/utah-hockey-club-facing-trademark-hurdles-in-finding-permanent-name

Sports in bizarro world

The Australian open tennis tournament was unable to provide live video from the tournament due to some quirky (and all too common) licensing deal.  The rights holders don't allow for it to be broadcast.

And that meant that the production company had to get creative.  They came up with a solution that had very wii-like figures playing, and included the audio commentary from the match, with a few minute delay.

https://www.npr.org/2025/01/17/nx-s1-5261006/australian-open-wii-animation

Now this isn't the first time we've seen this kind of thing, The NFL has had several football games that they have similarly animated.  Its a crazy, tech world we live in,  

Unbiased reporting

One of the challenges we're faced with is finding some sort of reasonable, independent journalism.  

Billionaires and corporate giants own most of the newspapers, tv new stations, and services that allow for consuming content on the internet that is timely and "news worthy" .... 

That leaves us in a position where we're (mostly) unable to find truth in reporting, or at least finding unbiased information.

Of the major news outlets, the NY Times still tends toward balance, but I believe they could do more more, and they are at risk of tipping farther.  And of course NPR still has integrity and does a little thing called "journalism," but they will probably get defunded under the new administration and have to evolve in order to stay solvent.  What that means at this point is mostly unknown.

The alternative is to find some independent journalism and support it.  At the top of my list is the Contrarian, which is run by journalists (including Jen Rubin) who left the big media and are now reporting as a "pro-democracy news outlet."  You can find them here: https://contrarian.substack.com/

And Meadowlark Media, formed by former people at ESPN, delves into sports, culture, and politics, too.  Its about informative entertainment.   https://www.meadowlark-media.com/

I also rather enjoy reading about good in the world, from The Good News Network https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/

But there are plenty of others. I found these two recently, and as far as I can tell they're somewhat independent, and may be worth some time to evaluate. 

• DCReport https://www.dcreport.org/
• WhoWhatWhy https://whowhatwhy.org/

And finally, there is also a site that is collecting some outlets that I haven't explored yet: https://www.trustworthymedia.org/list-of-independent-media/

As always, use your own best judgment to find outlets that work for you.

And of course, if any of you know about any others, please feel free to let me know!

The NFL playoffs

I find it intriguing how balanced the teams are in the playoffs. Doesn't matter if you were the best team in the regular season. Doesn't matter if you're at home. 

Everyone has a chance to win. Except for whoever is playing the chiefs; they get all the breaks. 

Anyway, the commanders story is that they had a bad owner and were wallowing in mediocrity. Then a new owner comes in. He cares about the team. He cares about the community. He cares about winning. 

He hires a coach who has a good philosophy and they draft a QB who understands the game and is the right fit. 

He's a rookie, and yet they knock off two good teams and are headed to the NFC championship. 

And let's see. Who are the two teams left without a playoff win for most of this century? The raiders who have a bad owner, can't find a coach and churn through QBs

And the dolphins. Who have a bad owner, think they have a good coach (but clearly don't), and have committed to a QB who they "hope" will be decent even though it's been 5 years and he's had more games missed due to injuries than wins (that last one may not be true, but he has had a significant number of injuries). 

It's amazing what a passionate owner can do isn't it?

That’s an oddly phrased message.

And the irony is not lost on me: there was consensus on banning a social media platform, which raises a first amendment concern. Yet no one has an appetite for banning assault weapons because the second amendment is important. 

(And I am aware that maybe TikTok is sharing information with be Chinese government. But there’s a lot more nuance to it than that)

Starship failure

Earlier this week, SpaceX made their 7th test launch of Starship. The main goals were to:

1. Achieve successful stage separation

2. Catch the booster on the launchpad

3. Reach orbit and deploy faux satellites

4. Splashdown with the upper stage and recover it.

They achieved the first two...but the upper stage had an issue with a valve (apparently) and blew up before it reached orbit.

The debris field was extensive, and the FAA had to temporarily reroute planes around it.  And, that debris field rained down on the Atlantic Ocean where it meets the Gulf of Mexico; there were reports of damage in Turks and Caicos.

And now the FAA is investigating again, and has told SpaceX that they need time to evaluate before allowing for another launch attempt.

But here's where things might get sticky.  Don't forget that Elon Musk owns SpaceX.  Elon Musk is also acting as the shadow president, and will soon have direct authority over the FAA. I have to wonder what will happen here. Will he exert his will and do as he pleases?  Or will he play nice and work toward a reasonable resolution?

There is good in the world.

Summary: a woman bought a cabinet online from a family that was moving. 

She got it home and unlocked some compartments, and found fairly valuable China inside. 

She posted her finding to one of the socials, and realized that it might have been the previous owners dinnerware. 

So she contacted them and offered for them to have it back. They were very grateful and came and retrieved it. 

That kind of story just makes me happy. 

https://people.com/woman-buys-cabinet-on-facebook-market-place-upon-opening-it-finds-complete-set-of-hermes-china-exclusive-8774301

Blue Origin launches New Glenn

Jeff Bezos (another detestable billionaire) founded Blue Origin as his own vanity project to get into space.

Until recently, his launches were all space tourism; this was his way of literally getting off the ground and learning about space craft.

But, this week, he actually entered the commercial space race.  His New Glenn launched a payload from Kennedy Space Center, after several weather-related delays,

Mostly, it went according to plan with the payload deployed, though the first stage failed to land,  At least they think they know what happened and can learn from it.

This rocket is more powerful than SpaceX Falcon 9, though less powerful than the StarShip.  In theory, it should be another cost effective means to launch satellites into orbit.

And there is one intriguing difference with this rocket: it uses Hydrogen as a propellant.  And that gives it an interesting thrust to weight ratio - which means that it lifts off the pad fairly slowly and ascends at a slower rate.  And, it also gives the flame behind it a blue tint, rather than the orange we're used to with oxygen.

Disney Supporting the Sunshine State 💛

I subscribe to a mailer about the Walt Disney company, and in particular their work in the central Florida area.

While its self-promotional, it is encouraging to see a large company share some good in the world.  Thought I'd share.

Disney in Florida: Supporting the Sunshine State As the largest and most visited theme park destination in the world,* Walt Disney World plays an active role in finding solutions to important matters affecting people in Central Florida and communities around the globe. As we kick off the new year with our Florida neighbors, we want take a look back at some of the special moments we shared together in 2024: To learn more about what we're doing to give back across the Sunshine State, visit DisneyFlorida.com. *According to the Themed Entertainment Association The Walt Disney Company Commits $15 Million to Los Angeles Area Fire Relief & Rebuilding Efforts The history of The Walt Disney Company is inextricably linked to the greater Los Angeles region, and the destruction from the devastating fires affecting thousands in that area is truly heartbreaking. We are committing $15 million for initial and immediate response and rebuilding efforts – read more here. 👇 What Else is Happening 🇺🇸 World War II Veteran Celebrates 100th Birthday at Disney World Magic Kingdom cast gave a big hero's welcome to a special guest celebrating his 100th birthday at Disney World: World War II Veteran William "Bill" A. Connelly. Watch as we honor him with a flag retreat ceremony on Main Street. 🚀 Space Mountain Celebrates 50 Years at Walt Disney World This week marks 50 years since Space Mountain first launched us into space, becoming a place where families can enjoy the thrilling magic of Disney and make lifelong memories together. Join us in celebrating this galactic milestone. 🦦 Pint-Sized Otter Pups Born at Animal Kingdom Cute alert! An Asian small-clawed otter mom at Disney's Animal Kingdom has welcomed a litter of pups to the world. Mom and dad are taking great care of these babies and you can already see their unique charm in these new photos. 🎨 Foodie Guide: EPCOT International Festival of the Arts Get your palates ready! EPCOT International Festival of the Arts begins Jan. 17, and our culinary cast have created some amazing dishes that are as beautiful as they are delicious. This guide has all the tasty bites you won't want to miss. 👀 In Case You Missed It 👀 Inside Look at the New Voices of Liberty Costumes at EPCOT Behind the Scenes at Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend New in 2025! Disney Resort Guests Receive Free Water Park Admission 📍Where to Find Us Next📍 Martin Luther King Jr. Day: Meal Packing with U.S. Hunger Spark STEM Fest at Orlando Science Center Paws in the Park Benefitting Pet Alliance of Greater Orlando  Feedback | DisneyFlorida.com | Subscribe  MouseMail is a news brief for Florida businesses, community and government leaders by Disney.

More lunar missions!

Recently, SpaceX launched a ride share mission with two separate lunar landers on board. 

The launch was cool because the trajectory took it to a high orbit, then the second stage had three separate burns to move into low-earth orbit, higher earth orbit, and on a path toward the moon out of earths orbit. 

The missions were described thusly:

Blue Ghost is a commercial lunar lander developed by Firefly Aerospace for NASA's CLPS program. Blue Ghost is designed to bring up to 155kg of payload to the lunar surface. It will land at Mare Crisium in the Crisium Basin and is designed to last 14 days before freezing in the lunar night.

Resilience is the second mission of the Hakuto-R commercial lunar lander developed by private Japanese company ispace. The lander will carry a small rover developed by ispace to perform studies on the moon's surface. The rover is also expected to collect lunar regolith as part of a contract with NASA signed in 2020, in which companies will collect materials on the moon and then transfer ownership "in situ" to the agency.

Movie making in Florida

This story starts with an introduction to author Carl Hiassen.  Carl lives in Miami, and writes some short stories about the reality of things that happen here. And longer (at least partially fictional) stories loosely based on real events.  

The stories are weird and wonderful, taking place in the state of Florida. We didn't get the "Florida Man" name for nothing!

Anyway, one of the stories he wrote was "Bad Monkey" which Apple TV made into a mini series starring Vince Vaughn.  It takes place in the Keys and Miami and is fun.  But the cool part is that its not only set here, it was actually filmed here.

If you haven't seen it, I do recommend it.  It is bizarre and pretty funny. The series was based on the book, and ended in much the same way as its source. That's that.  

But... Apple found it to be such a success that they are ordering a season 2.  Except that its not based on a specific work, Hiassen will only "consult" on the general theme, and it will be filmed in Hollywood, but be set in the keys again.

It all raises many questions, but the biggest one has to do with why it won't be filmed here.  Its because the state doesn't have any sort of tax incentive to produce movies here, and very often shows are set here but filmed in California.  Its weird.

More bad reporting

Macy's recently announced a plan to close underperforming stores.  

They made the announcement and listed off the stores. That got picked up and media outlets ran with a headline "Macys closing!" and proceeded to list locations of stores that sure didn't seem to fit with "underperformance."

Since that didn't seem right, I looked at the addresses for stores in Florida.  And discovered that these were not Macy's stores, but rather Macy's Furniture stores, which are not your traditional storefronts.

I guess technically they are Macy's stores, but they were created as stand alone stores that only sell furniture.  They are large and expensive to run - and have been considered for closure for quite some time.

But the headline that Macys is closing is more salacious and requires no research.  That is just lazy and sad.  And again shows that no one can do an ounce of research.

Weirdness in booking a Disney trip

As most of you know, I host a Disney world history YouTube series. I've been going to the parks for most of my life and have enjoyed being a local. 

Pre-pandemic, I knew what was what. I knew the tricks. I understood the ins and outs of making a visit. And everything could be done as a spur of the moment type of thing…

Then came the pandemic and the rules started to change. Of course you had the evolution of fastpass which complicated everything. But it was more than that. 

Now I have to make a reservation - subject to availability - to go to the parks. And oddly, most of the knowledge about how to manage the parks became irrelevant. 

I had promised my son a trip to Disney world when he graduated high school….but he graduated during the pandemic, and then went off to college. So we had to wait. 

Finally, we had an opportunity to go. I had to get him a ticket … which was complicated and maybe a little stressful - because the ticket prices vary wildly depending on when you want to go. And it is way more expensive than it was 5 years ago. 

Of course, there was still the matter of proving he is a Florida resident, which didn't work online, meaning we had to go to a guest relations window just to activate his ticket.  

And nevermind that I had to book a reservation to visit a park using my annual pass.

You have to spend time and effort and work through it, and figure it out. I can only imagine for a newbie how hard this is...

And on that note, I happened to see a video from a guy who had never been.  He outlined his confusion and the challenges he faced.  He ended with his thought that its not really worth it.  That intrigued me.

And then when my son and I went, we encountered some interesting folks.  One guy had some pretty serious complaints about attractions and wait times (and lightning lane), dining availability, and assorted confusion.  I heard "if only I had known" and "this shouldn't be this hard."

And that sums up the current experience at Disney World.  

License plate cameras on the open internet?

Here's a story about a man who discovered that many of the license plate cameras in use are actually not behind any layer of security. 

Anyone can simply access them and track vehicles in real time. Which he proceeded to do in order o make a point. 

Privacy is not something that is generally given a second thought when there's money to be made with little effort. 

https://www.404media.co/researcher-turns-insecure-license-plate-cameras-into-open-source-surveillance-tool/

That's the world we live in. 

Vivek Murthy suggests we rethink how we’re living our lives

This is an uplifting letter from the outgoing surgeon general as he reflects on how we as humans live. One part reminds of us what fulfillment is:

I have come to see there are three essential elements that fuel our fulfillment and well-being: relationships, service, and purpose. 

Relationships keep us grounded and bonded to each other. Service, from formal volunteering to informal small acts of kindness, is about helping each other. And purpose gives our life a sense of direction and meaning. Together, these elements form the triad of fulfillment. 

https://people.com/surgeon-general-vivek-murthy-americans-closing-letter-rethink-how-we-are-living-our-lives-exclusive-8770191

This is worth a read. 

Watch ""Fight Back!" Classics: Sears Trash Can 1500-Foot Drop Test" on YouTube

I love this piece for so many reasons. 

It's educational and informative

It applies a bit of scientific rigor and healthy amount of curiosity. They even poll the audience, who seem interested. 

It's not sponsored, and is independent for the sake of understanding 

It's good journalism. 

It's consumer oriented, and what do you know the product they test was well made.

I know there is some of this still available on the internet, but not enough of it. It's drowned out by vapid themes.

ahhh,  simpler times …

https://youtu.be/f8KIG7P9Vjc?si=_m1lpWzeBRxTyMu_

Elon Musk, Tesla, and Las Vegas

There are very many privacy concerns these days.  Not the least of which is that cars collect data about you - from tracking where and how you drive to recording conversations on the integrated microphones.  And at present, there is no way to opt out.  And they can do with it as they please, from selling it to unknown 3rd parties, to sharing it with insurance companies, to releasing it to law enforcement if they see fit.

We had the incident with the cybertruck that exploded in Las Vegas, which the media was quick to pounce on - with incomplete or erroneous information. But, then Elon Musk proudly told everyone that he would retrieve all the info from this vehicle, in order to help law enforcement piece together what happened.

There are so many concerns with this.  He arbitrarily offered to pull up some personal type data and share it (generally, anyway) with the world.  How is that okay?  And in the position of power he has, how will he abuse that ability?

And as an aside: I take exception to Elon's recent comments that he wants to help the police, and believes in law enforcement.  That sure sounds nice, but isn't he sucking up to the convicted felon who was able to make an additional series of charges that may have led to additional convictions and jail time go away? What about enforcement of the laws that man broke?

So I suppose he supports law enforcement when it suits him?       

Disney settles with the orange menace

This story was a little hard to follow, due to bad reporting, no real fact checking, and some politically motivated story lines. 

But from what I gather, ABC (owned by Disney of course) made a settlement with the orange menace that paid him some money and admitted that they had misreported some information about the man. 

What's confusing is *what* that report was and *how* it was wrong. 

But what I took away from it was that Bob Iger is trying to play nice with T-rump so he won't continue to attack the company for spurious reasons (like he did during his other term in office).  It seems to have been a calculated move to kowtow to him, as seemingly every other company is doing. 

It's all very bizarre. 

But don't sleep on the fact that the person tabbed to run the FCC has already made known that he won't tolerate disparaging dear leader, and has an eye on this settlement as showing how "the media" needs to be further held accountable for actually reporting on anything. 

Freedom of the press and truth can suck it. 

Fort Wilderness Campground cabins for sale

The guy who purchased 100 of the cabins still has some for sale. 

Which is intriguing, ridiculous, and maybe a little dumb 

But hey, you too can own a piece of Disney history. I guess?

https://www.floridatoday.com/story/news/local/2025/01/03/cabins-disney-fort-wilderness-campground-for-sale-buy-brevard-florida/77379177007/

The tragedy in New Orleans

On New Year's Eve, there was an attack on revelers who were simply out and enjoying the evening on Bourbon Street. A car made its way into the crowd and killed a number of people.

But once again, we saw some terrible reporting.  Every outlet wanted to get the scoop, and report on it from any angle that might generate interest in content on that outlet.  There were few facts, and a lot of speculation.  Maybe it was a terrorist attack? Maybe it was a more coordinated effort?

It is an absolute tragedy - no doubt about that.  

But I wanted to call out two items that I saw in the reporting.  First, I saw a quote from a contemptible Senator from Louisiana talking about this as a wakeup call, as it being one of the worst things ever, and we need to be ready for attacks like this.  The subtext wasn't lost on me.  The person had a "foreign name" so it feeds into the hysteria.  But he was a US Citizen by birth and his motives (at the time of this writing) are unknown.  And anyway, this is the same Senator who thinks that gun related deaths are a fact of life.  The fact that this incident is different in his mind is really something. 

The other thing that caught my attention was that there were barricades in place to prevent cars from going into pedestrian areas.  But these barricades were undergoing some upgrades specifically to prepare for the superbowl in a few months.  That would mean that the goal was to protect a huge moneymaker in the future at the potential expense of the present.  That gave me pause.