3D printing in space

The European Space Agency sent along a 3D printer to the International Space Station, and recently, it was used to create a 3D metal object. As you might expect, in micro gravity, it took a while to calibrate the machines.

But the result is that they now can now print a part that they need for a repair on the station - and it naturally has implications beyond the ISS.  As we move further from Earth, we have to be prepared for many eventualities.  And a 3D printer allows for a wide range of possibilities.

Remember that in Apollo 13, they had to repurpose whatever things they could find on board to ensure that the astronauts could return home.  Imagine how that could have gone if they could have made literally anything out of an idea.

https://www.sustainability-times.com/research/theyre-sure-its-not-from-earth-scientists-analyze-mysterious-metal-object-with-properties-unknown-to-human-technology/

Another whitewashing of history?

This is an interesting long-form piece about how Harvard wanted to know about how the slave trade was handled at the university.  Its worth a read... 

...but for anyone who wants the cliffs notes version, essentially someone was hired to do the research and what he found was that there was a lot of overlooked elements of slavery that helped build the university, and even several prominent people involved with the founding were slave owners.  The researcher was asked to limit his findings because this was a source of shame.  And when he didn't, he was let go, and the university turned the research over to a company doing more genealogy and less shining a light on slavery.

Which is shameful in its own right.  The past happened.  Why can't we just own up to it and move on?

https://www.theguardian.com/news/2025/jun/21/harvard-slavery-decendants-of-the-enslaved

Relay 2 comes to life to emit a pulse of radio waves

In 1964, NASA launched Relay 2 as an early satellite.  The main objective was to determine the feasibility of launching a satellite that could remain in place and allow for data to be relayed from future manned missions (like the moon shots).  

Having fulfilled its purpose, the satellite was decommissioned in 1967, and just left to sit in a high orbit above the earth.  And then in mid-June of this year, it suddenly came to life and emitted a strong radio pulse - well beyond anything that could be easily explained.

Scientists are trying to understand what happened here, but its a really fun mystery for now.

The original article is behind a paywall: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2485157-dead-nasa-satellite-unexpectedly-emits-powerful-radio-pulse/

Another free source for a related article: https://www.sciencealert.com/mysterious-radio-signal-caught-bursting-from-long-dead-nasa-satellite

Wireless power transmission

I've talked in the past about the possibilities for wireless power transmissions.  DARPA has achieved this - by sending 800 watts of power over a distance of 5 miles!

The pulse was transmitted with an approximate 20% efficiency, and some of the power it transmitted was used to make popcorn. The researchers have bigger ambitions for the system's use in the field, however, suggesting that it could be used to power unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).

Popcorn.  Seems so innocent, given that this is an advanced research branch of the army.

https://www.livescience.com/technology/darpa-smashes-wireless-power-record-beaming-energy-more-than-5-miles-away-and-uses-it-to-make-popcorn

Removing microplastics from water

Researchers have found a plant-based substance that provides a way to to suck up microplastics.

... researchers found that extracts from okra and fenugreek can remove up to 90 percent of microplastics from ocean water, freshwater, and groundwater. These results were recently published in the journal ACS Omega.

 Its early, but the results are interesting!

https://scitechdaily.com/natural-plant-extract-removes-up-to-90-of-microplastics-from-water/

AI and Disney's sacred IP

Disney is - and always has been - very territorial about their intellectual property.  I mean look at Mickey Mouse, and how the Disney company sought to maintain the copyright over his likeness for as long as they did, going so far as to lobby congress so that they could maintain that copyright for longer than originally intended.

And now along comes AI.  And several companies are using it to generate content that (seemingly obviously) infringe on those copyrights.  Only the courts have been kind of letting a lot of it slide as these new technologies are "training."

But Disney is not taking that lying down and is suing to protect their IP from this type of infringement.  Its worth watching to see how this plays out, and whether the other players with significant works being re-created ultimately join the effort to stop AI companies from using and monetizing on the works of Disney (and others).

Here's an article from June that lays it all out.  https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2025-06-22/inside-disney-s-campaign-to-protect-darth-vader-from-ai 

Possible Disney World expansion?

Disney submitted their 20 year plan for land usage to the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District (the state-run board that replaced the Reedy Creek Improvement District).

Most of it is the pro forma land usage plans.  But there were a couple of interesting items within it.  First was that they set aside property for two "minor theme parks."  These would be things like water parks or amusement park-type areas.   

But, more interestingly is that they left space for a 5th theme park.  Speculation is running wild on the internet on what that means, and when it could happen. But the reality is that there is (to this point) no concrete plan in place.  This is speculative, and leaves room for future growth, should Disney decide to expand like that. 

Still its important to note that Disney is planning for more growth.

https://www.disneytouristblog.com/fifth-theme-park-disney-world-approved-2045-plan/

Trump must be impeached

Senator,

Mr Trump continually ignores the constitution, but this weekend he went farther than he had previously. 

After days of saying "we'll see," he launched a military strike on a sovereign nation, seemingly based on nothing more than "his own gut."  While relations may be strained with Iran, there was no provocation and no reason to take this action. 

And the constitution requires that he get congressional approval to enter into any such conflicts. Which he simply did not do. 

It has been reported that he alerted England's prime minister and several "key Republican lawmakers" just before he launched the effort. But he skipped over people he doesn't like. 

That is not how any of this is done. 

Setting aside all the other transgressions, this one is the most severe and significant. He needs to be removed from office for this conduct. 

You need to support and defend the constitution and represent Americans in standing up to him. 

On maintaining friendships

This is a somewhat personal story...

Years ago, I met a guy through some work I was doing on the web and we became friends.  We found out we had a lot in common, and would hang out a few times a year (we lived in different parts of the country so it revolved around common activities).  He appeared on a Dolphins podcast that I had at one point, and on the Disney podcast, too.

He was a good human being. And I was glad to call him a friend.

The pandemic came, and we didn't see each other for a while, and we fell behind on communicating.  Hey.  It happens, that's life.

I saw something that I was pretty sure this friend would enjoy knowing about, so I dropped him an email.  I got a fairly unexpected reply, from his daughter: "sorry to tell you that he passed away after a brief illness, about two months ago"

I was stunned.  I reached out to a few other mutual friends to let them know.  Only to find out that during his illness, he had reached out to them to let them know he was not doing well.  And then a fairly close friend of his let this group know when he passed.

But I was left out of the conversation.  That stung a little more.

We obviously hadn't been that close in the last few years, and I hardly blame him.  But I was mildly surprised that the other folks hadn't mentioned anything to me. 

Again, that is life.  Still, it made me a little sad.  

But then I remembered an interview with former Dolphin player. and hall of famer, Larry Little from a few years back.  

He told a story about how a college teammate was in town, and had reached out and asked him to dinner. He said he was too tired and didn't go.  And the friend wound up having a heart attack and dying a few days later.  He felt great guilt and quietly reflected on that.  His advice to himself - and others - was to always try and see people that you care about when you have the chance.  Don't let being tired or busy be an excuse.  Cherish the people you like, and let them in.

And that's what I was trying to do in reaching out to my friend, and others who I've lost touch with over the years.   My aim is to cultivate better friendships, and try to not let this happen anymore to people I actually like and care about.  It's not so hard to send an email, or a quick text, or even make time to meetup if the person is nearby.

And that's the same advice I pass along to you.  The world is strange a lot of the time, but there are good people in it.  I'd like to encourage anyone reading this to make an effort to not let people just slip out of your life, only to find out that they died unexpectedly. 

Starship woes

SpaceX's large craft - starship - has experienced a series of problems recently. 

They have managed to launch several vehicles, and have returned the booster successfully; and even "caught it" a few times. 

But the upper stage hasn't found any success. The rockets mis-fire. The attitude can't be controlled. The payload doors won't open. 

And now they had a spectacular explosion on the pad while performing a static fire. 

I know that there is a lot of trial and error involved. And space is hard. But it just seems like maybe the spacecraft is too big and powerful and it just can't be harnessed properly. 

Anyway, you can watch the explosion on the attached link:

https://weather.com/science/space/video/spacex-starship-rocket-explodes-in-texas-testing

And one amusing thing. Afterwards, Elon channeled his inner Python fan and said "it's just a scratch" - which is amusing yet stupid (coming from him) 

To the senate: no war with Iran!

Senator, might I remind you that the ongoing discussion by Mr Trump to authorize military action against Iran seems to be entirely motivated by his own hubris rather than by good policy or some rational thought about the future of the Mideast and its stability. 

I also would point out that the majority of Americans - including those who identify as MAGA - are opposed to such action. 

And as you are likely well aware, there is no existing congressional authorization for the use of force against Iran. So there is yet another constitutional showdown looming, should he decide to act. 

You need to take a firm stand and support other options, other than military action. 

To the senate: Elimination of programs to feed people

Senator,

I often volunteer at feeding south Florida. I live here and want to help my community, and can honestly state there is a need. And a growing one at that. With the cost of living compared against the wages, and the rising cost of food, people don't have a lot of options. 

The food bank gives them an option. But through various actions of this administration, I am seeing less food being brought in, and Florida and federal donations are lower. 

Now with the budget that eliminates SNAP and other programs, there will be even less. And our neighbors - your constituents who are legally here - will need to rely on food banks more than ever. But their funding will also go away. 

So essentially in approving this budget, you would be creating more issues than you'd be solving. I would think the proposed tax savings for the ultra wealthy would be insignificant in the big picture. 

People work hard and still can't make ends meet. They need a little help. Don't cut their benefits!

To the senate: Emoluments clause

Mr Trump is promoting some ridiculously overpriced phone that I guess his family is selling (it's confusing but he's definitely involved). 

And that means he stands to profit (again) directly from the office he holds. 

That is a clear violation of the emoluments clause. You need to hold him accountable for (again) not acting constitutionally. 

POV Walkthroughs of Disney attractions

This is pretty cool.  While YouTube has a significant collection of user-created content related to Disney parks - including ride throughs of most attractions - Disney itself has decided to make a series of POV attraction ride throughs.

The major difference is that the Disney versions are flawless.  No ride breakdowns.  Shots that highlight things they want to be sure you see.  No other guests blocking the view. And they take some parts slowly.

You can find the collection on Disney+, beginning with the Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance at Disneyland.

https://gizmodo.com/visit-disneyland-from-the-comfort-of-disney-with-more-pov-walkthroughs-2000617143

Hailing frequencies closed

Many years ago, I met Curt at an event hosted by the Miami Dolphins. We had a little fun back-and-forth about who was first with a dolphins website (though I always knew it was him; he beat me by maybe a month or so). 

We became friends and had a some fun bonding over being long-suffering fans, and discovered we also shared a love of Disney. There were other things, too, but those always worked. 

He appeared on both my dolphins and Disney podcasts a few times, and we did the scavenger hunt in 2011. It was an absolute blast. 

Unfortunately, we lost touch shortly before the pandemic, and the emails and calls became more sporadic. 

Then, today I saw something about the dolphins I thought he'd enjoy seeing, so I thought maybe we could pick up again. 

Only… I learned from his daughter that he passed away in March. That gave me pause. 

Goodbye my friend. May you feast among the dolphins greats, and get an audience with Walt himself. 😁

This is one of those fun human interest stories

TL;DR dad offers his son a chance to take on a challenge that you see on the socials. Kid succeeds. That video goes viral, and ultimately leads to the son getting a chance to go on the field with a baseball player he wanted to meet. 

It's worth a read, and reminds us that there is still good in the world. 

https://people.com/how-a-viral-prank-led-boy-to-meet-his-texas-rangers-idol-exclusive-11740602

When Don Shula almost went to work for Donald Trump

This is a summary of Trump buying the New Jersey Generals and pursing Don Shula. 

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DI4gG_tzVpf/?igsh=eTM4cWZ2Z3ZzaXpy

A little more context: If I remember correctly, T-rump decided he wanted to win at all costs and made a run at Shula. 

Shula was flattered but not really interested. His situation in Miami was good but the money was tempting. And of course he and owner Joe Robbie had clashed a bunch by now.

I don't think they ever got far into negotiations, with Shulas representative doing the talking.

But it did give him more money from the notoriously cheap Robbie.

There are two rumors around this topic. First is that Larry Csonka (who played for Shula, and they remained friendly over the years) told reporters Shula "probably would have taken the money" if that other Donald hadn't gone public.

And the second is that the agent was trying to size up the real interest. Was this a publicity stunt? Would Shula have had control? Was it a legit offer without stupid clauses that would have made life difficult?

Part of how he negotiated was to ask for some ridiculous things, perhaps including the penthouse apartment.

It was to see what kind of a person that Donald was. And we all saw it.

Shula called it all a distraction and just moved on.

Religion meets politics

As I've noted many times before, the founding fathers weren't particularly religious. As the primary religion in the American colonies was Anglican, that meant that the predominant religion accepted the monarchy. Because the monarch is the head of the Anglican Church. 

That certainly didn't fit with the ideals of this fledgling nation, which was trying to free itself from the ties to England. 

And that's an important part of how our nation was founded. The Declaration of Independence speaks of "the creator" as a very ambiguous thing. And they do note that there is "divine providence" in the action, which suggests a higher power. But they don't otherwise mention god, and certainly not Christianity. 

The constitution makes no reference to god. At all. There is a notation in article vii that reads "in the year of our lord" 

done in Convention by the Unanimous Consent of the States present the Seventeenth Day of September in the Year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and Eighty seven and of the Independance of the United States of America the Twelfth In witness whereof We have hereunto subscribed our Names

But keep in mind that the British had imposed the gregorian calendar on all its territories. It has a "starting point" related to the assumed birthdate of Jesus. Any days before that are "BC," or "Before Christ." And anything after are "AD," or "Anno Domini" which is loosely translated to "after the coming of god."

The plucky americans kept the calendar and the nomenclature for convenience. So "year of our lord" is a holdover from that, specifically. 

And with no other mentions of god, it's a stretch to fit Christianity into that. Though certainly some people try and do so.  

Moreover, it was decided to make the semi-official motto of these new United States e pluribus unum which you may recognize as a Latin phrase (Latin being commonly used in documents pertaining to state, in many British territories). It means "out of many, one."

You may also realize that this is the basic tenet of the declaration that "we the people" are the nation. Not a king. Not a type of tyrant. We. All of us.   

Now a quick aside: The pledge of allegiance that we all know and recite, didn't get written until after the civil war. It was 1892 when we started pledging allegiance to the republic. And it did NOT contain the phrase "under god" in its original form. 

But along came the Cold War in the 1950s. The red scare. There were communists everywhere, according to some. And we couldn't let the Russians take over our nation. So there were a series of witch hunts. 

And a serious discussion about how we could differentiate ourselves from *them* got underway … one way was through religion. The communists didn't believe in god and therefore, if the United States made references to god, we could assure ourselves that the red menace wouldn't affect our way of life. Silly as that sounds. 

So in 1956, the pledge of allegiance was changed to add "under god" to it. It's a small, subtle change. But in context, really relevant. 

They also adopted an official motto that reads "in god we trust," and stopped using "e pluribus unum" in most official capacities. 

Until then, no one much cared about religion in the way we think of it today. Yes, people were religious. And yes there were debates about church and state. But the constitution typically won out because it didn't mention god. 

But, with legislation and the stroke of a pen, we started down a long path of religion infiltrating our system of government. People assume that "under god" refers to Christianity. But of course it does not specifically do that. 

And our founding fathers never intended for this to happen. 

Reference: the constitution 

https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/constitution-transcript#7

Reference: the Declaration of Independence 

https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/declaration-transcript

Seaweed packaging

A company called Notpla is working on a seaweed coating to put over a cardboard container.  The result is something that can biodegrade quicky and easily.

They're partnering with some European business, and with some big stadium operators to replace the packaging that's used when serving food at games and events.  

They also toyed wit han idea for seaweed-based cuops to replace single use plastic cups, but post-pandemic, opted to focus on these takeaway containers.

https://www.euronews.com/green/2025/06/07/we-dont-want-to-be-a-niche-brand-seaweed-is-taking-plastic-out-of-stadiums-and-sandwich-bo

Davinci drawings lead to newly discovered tunnels

Leonardo Davinci did some drawings of the Sforza Castle, and included were a series of underground tunnels.

Centuries passed, and the landscape changed.  The tunnels were lost to history.  Except that some archaeologists referred back to these drawings, and used ground penetrating radar.  And found the tunnels.

This is one of those fun stories that makes one marvel at the ability of Davinci to show us the real world.

https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/archaeology/a64864755/leonardo-da-vinci-castle-sketch/

Scientists in Japan develop plastic that dissolves in seawater within hours

It may seem a little far-fetched, but the scientists had in a group of scientists and reporters, and demonstrated the effect: plastic sitting in a salt water tank disintegrated in about an hour.  So if this is scalable, and if the plastic can stand up to regular handling, they may be on to something.

https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/climate-energy/scientists-japan-develop-plastic-that-dissolves-seawater-within-hours-2025-06-04/

Saturn's moon - Titan - has a tilt that scientists are trying to understand

To this point, scientists can't figure out why Titan is "wobbling."

"We think some event in the past may have knocked the atmosphere off its spin axis, causing it to wobble."

While studying it using telescopes and looking at the data from probes, they noticed that Saturn wasn't impacting the tilt, which made the result curiouser.

"That would've given us clues to the cause," Nick Teanby, co-author of the study and a planetary scientist at the University of Bristol, said in the statement. "Instead, we've got a new mystery on our hands."

Its amazing to me just how much we don't know.  But its also worth noting that this is what's great about scientific curiosity.  We continue to evaluate what we see, and update theories to adapt to that.  And we continue to learn new things.

https://www.space.com/astronomy/solar-system/weve-got-a-new-mystery-on-our-hands-titans-weird-wobble-just-got-even-stranger

Space is hard

Japan's Resilience Lunar Lander apparently crash landed on the moon.  Everything was looking good after its time in space, and the engineers were excited and confident about landing.

But as it was 20m above the surface, and about 2 minutes from landing, the thrusters fired to move it to a vertical position, but it didn't successfully complete the maneuver, and the craft didn't slow down.  

iSpace lost contact with it and later determined that it had crash landed.  And that means its iSpace's second failed attempt to land on the moon,

https://www.reuters.com/science/japans-ispace-tries-lunar-touchdown-again-with-resilience-lander-2025-06-05/

Disney announces Piston Peak

Disney hadn't said much about the Cars themed land slated for the magic kingdom, after their initial announcement. 

The reason for that is: Florida politics. 

Disney proposed filling in the Rivers of America and using that as additional space for their new land. But Disney no longer controls its own waterways. They are now under the purview of the state's water management district. So, when Disney proposed their changes, the state rejected it outright. It's hard to tell what their reasoning was, but presumably it's about their ongoing feud. 

Disney tried negotiating, but they met a lot of resistance. I personally assumed the project died quietly. 

But in the first week of June, they came up with this statement. 

"Since the early days of Magic Kingdom, adventurous guests have traveled across space and time as they pass from Liberty Square to Frontierland.

 

"At the heart of all these stories are heroic characters with a belief in themselves that helped forge a path to their dreams.

 

"To continue this journey in great American storytelling, Piston Peak National Park will be part of the largest expansion in the history of Magic Kingdom.

 

"Visitors will be able to see and explore the visitor lodge, Ranger HQ, trails and more all set within the Disney and Pixar Cars universe.

 

"To make sure these buildings fit naturally within the surrounding majestic landscapes, Imagineers are using a style of architecture called 'Parkitecture,' which was developed by the National Park Service to create structures that harmonize with the natural environment.

 

"From the outside, trees will provide a natural barrier between the off-road rally and other parts of Frontierland and Liberty Square. Rugged mountains with dramatic peaks will be nestled along a calming waterway across from Grizzly Hall, and soaring geysers from the famed Big Thunder Mountain Railroad will stretch into the trails of our off-road rally."

Which means that they found a way to make it work. And if you look at the new rendering, you'll note that the waterway surrounds the land. So in effect, they reshaped the Rivers of America slightly, but left it intact. 

I'm not quite sure who won and lost here. But it seems a reasonable compromise. I think, anyway. 

But my one question is why did they put it there, and not over by the Tomorrowland speedway? That seemed to be a more natural tie-in. 

But what do I know?

Original artist rendering - no waterways shown:

Conceptualization shown in June with the announcement, with the waterway!: 

This is just madness

There's a weird story about Elon Musk, Stephen Miller, and Miller's wife. And honestly, I'm not sure why this is any way "news" or relevant. 

But I think it probably does suggest there are problems with this stupid "in crowd"…

If you're unfamiliar with the story, well, it's that Miller assigned his wife to keep an eye on Musk. Miller referred to it as "handling him," and musk reportedly figured out that he was being manipulated. 

Whatever it was ex actor is unclear … but it sure seems like something is simmering among them. 

And of course, there was some weirdness about their relationship, both professional and personal. And there was some side story about Musk no longer contributing to T-rumps personal account, which seems to have rankled some of the keystone cops.