Bitchin Dave's Newsletter - September 12

  

September 12, 2023 Insights, news, ramblings, and other serious nonsense from Dave

Dave’s Musings

As I navigate through a professional career change, I am reminded of a quote from Mark Twain that you may find valuable as well: “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you did not do than by the ones you did. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds. Explore. Dream. Discover.”

Take personal stock of where you are in life and explore, dream, and discover!

  

What is believed to be an asteroid collided with Jupiter a couple of weeks ago. And an amateur astronomer happened to capture an image of it in real time. It is worth a look! Asteroid impact	MIT has developed a cooling system that uses no electricity, and provides 300% better cooling than a similar evaporative cooling system. Its still in a development stage, but the solution could provide a low cost solution to large portions of the world that are experience extreme heat. interestingengineering.com

Disney made some big announcements related to Disney World at the D23 event last week. In short, Disney is planning to invest $10s of billions into the Florida theme parks, in spite of the nonsense with Florida's governor. The plan is update some rides and attractions, to further incorporate Intellectual Property, and to enhance guest experiences. While so far the details are about relatively small changes, I look forward to seeing how this evolve.

Science continues to find solutions to problems. Here's an article about a "Win-Win for Climate" In short, scientists ground up silicate rock and applied it to a field, and saw a reduction in CO2 production from the plants, which otherwise would have wound up in the atmosphere. As I've noted before, simple solutions are sometimes the best ones, and are easy to overlook at times. https://phys.org/news/2023-08-climate-win-win-quantifies-benefits-weathering.amp

One Little Spark …  … for your imagination

New York City is having a bit of an immigration problem. There are a large number  mostly legal immigrants (primarily from Venezuela), at least some of whom were bussed to NY from other states that are essentially stirring the anti-immigrant pot.

Some blowhard politicians are trying to frame it as a "border crisis," which is not accurate.  Most of these immigrants did not cross through the southern border.  Meanwhile, the media doesn't quite know how to cover it.  

And what you get is a lot of bluster from the mayor and governor of NY, governors from other states, and the white house.

Its a complicated and nuanced problem that can't be solved by people just pointing fingers.  In fact, this is long-standing problem (dating back to the early 20th century) with immigrants coming over on ships and reaching NY, and going through Ellis Island.

If you've never studied what happened there, I highly recommend a visit or you can start with a little light reading: https://www.statueofliberty.org/ellis-island/overview-history/

In a sense, what you are seeing is history repeating itself.  Large numbers of immigrants have arrived in NY and no one knows what, exactly, should be done with them - and whether immigration laws should change.

Dave’s latest video

Data privacy, as it relates to cars is a topic that doesn't get much attention. I've made a short video on the topic. https://youtu.be/a142IplEnO8?si=xRX3pcUMaGkobvsr

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Bitchin Dave Newsletter - September 5

   

September 5, 2023 Insights, news, ramblings, and other serious nonsense from Dave

Dave’s Musings

I was sick, and never got around to producing a newsletter last week. Feeling better now, so here we go.

During a football game between Kent State and UCF this weekend, the announcers mentioned the Kent State massacre, which happened in 1970. They were short on actual details but did remind us that the National Guard opened fire on students protesting Vietnam, killing 4. They also mentioned that the band Devo had also gone to Kent State. One of the announcers had no idea who Devo was, or that there was a deeper connection between the band and the shooting. You can read more about that here: https://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/music/ct-kent-state-massacre-music-20180504-story.html

But this lack of appreciation for history didn't quite stop there. UCF won the game (handily) and posted something to social media that read "SOMEONE CALL THE NATIONAL GUARD!" .... which was instantly a regrettable decision. They deleted the post and apologized.

Oops. I think its important we understand and embrace our own past, regardless of how painful it feels. We can't just be ignorant to things that happened.

  

We had an interstellar visitor recently. No really! A half-meter meteor was detected in 2014, and seen streaking through the sky by people on the ground. US Space Command determined its speed and suggested that to reach that speed, it likely came from outside the galaxy. A group of scientists went off in search of fragments of the meteor, and found traces of Beryllium that would indicate the object had originated from outside of our galaxy. An amazing discovery. Cosmos Magazine Article

In my video (below), I talk about Tesla's secret sauce, which is their charging network. I don't talk about a specific detail: how they manage that network. In the past, they had a driver reporting system, coupled with some simplistic monitoring. But today, they use a fairly sophisticated monitoring system that allows for them to see the status and usage of charging stations, and to integrate it into your car so that they route you to less busy and/or working units. Its a very, very cool use of technology and a sort of AI. Charging

Here's a little something of interest. According to public filings, Disney will pay around $190 million in taxes to the state of Florida. That amount is about 85% of the total tax collected by Reedy Creek - now the Central Florida Oversight Board. Its unclear how that compares to other central Florida tourism businesses, but it is more than 50% of the total revenue generated. In the state of Florida, Disney provides between 3% - 5% of the overall tax collected. That is the largest individual contribution by any company. In summary, why did the governor pick a fight with his largest single tax contributor and employer?

During the pandemic, movie theaters naturally struggled. Some closed, some negotiated deals with distributors, some took on loans or other debt. More direct-to-streaming also contributed to a change, in spite of lawsuits related to royalties. And the writers strike isn't helping matters. What was clear to me was that the model that was in use pre-pandemic was not sustainable. Sure there's a "return to the box office" ongoing, but its nothing like it had been. Last week, I saw what could be the future. Taylor Swift announced a limited engagement movie-theater viewing for her successful world tour. Possibly, it violated some "rules" that were in place for movie distribution and pricing. But that really doesn't matter. The future may be more on-demand, event types of entertainment - and less traditional movie distribution.

One Little Spark …  … for your imagination

Sustainability and Climate Action are inseparable.  Or so says an article in Nature.  Essentially, they note that while there are agreements among various nations, there needs to be some specific action and trust among us.  We all live on this planet, and need to work toward a common goal and essentially build on the trust that we are in it for the right reasons, and al have a goal of reducing emissions and helping our environment.

Dave’s latest video

I talk about Tesla and their secret sauce. https://youtu.be/e0l32Rjxong?si=p_PHf6wr5ZdbHJNY

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This should be the dotards official portrait

I think we should start a petition to replace the current one with this, as it is so much appropriate as a representation of his "presidency"

Bitchin' Dave's Newsletter - August 22

   

August 22, 2023 Insights, news, ramblings, and other serious nonsense from Dave

Dave’s Musings

I have been away for a few weeks, but I did keep up with the news - particularly as it relates to the weather. Hurricanes in California? Fire in Maui? Tornadoes, wildfires, extreme heat> They all showed up as very real threats.

I heard someone say this will be the coolest summer for the rest of our lives, and that hit home. We need to appreciate that climate change is happening around us, is a real and present danger.

And not to belabor the point, but its time for all of us to do more. As they say "think globally, act locally" - surely there are little things we can do to help.

  

During the Obama administration, he proposed sending humans to an asteroid to study it. The notion wasn't taken to seriously, and references to the movie "Armageddon." But now, it would seem that the Near Earth Asteroid project is getting renewed attention, and there is a possible plan to launch astronauts to an asteroid to conduct scientific research in order to better understand them and perhaps prevent a cataclysmic event in the future. NEA project

Here's a link to a cool article about Zenith's (remember them?) revolutionary space command remote control, which was a mechanical marvel. No batteries, no infra red, no wires! This device relied on a series of ultrasonic sounds that were created when the buttons were pressed. A receiver on the TV could receive the signal and act on it. Quite the cool - and simple - technology! The Verge - Zenith Space Command

While we've gotten used to (?) seeing Disney World close due to hurricanes over the years, it was weird this week when DisneyLand closed due to a storm. In fact, it was unusual to see DisneyLand close at all. It has only been closed three times in its history: after the death of JFK in November 1963, after an earthquake in January 1994, and after 9/11 back in 2001. By the way, hurricanes are a bit unusual in southern California. The last one was recorded over 80 years ago!

Here's an intriguing article about deeper study of enslaved individuals. They collected DNA from a group that was buried near an old iron works. The Smithsonian researchers learned where they came from, how they were related, and managed to track down their descendants. It starts a process of understanding our own history and owning up to the realities of our own past. Reuters Article

One Little Spark …  … for your imagination

There was an interesting case presented in Montana: a group of youths sued the state for not providing a clean environment, as required by the state constitution. 

The state didn't put up much of a defense, and said that no matter the outcome they had no plans to change anything.

But the youths won, with the court noting that the states environmental policy violated their right to a clean environment.  The state (naturally) said they will appeal.

Here's the key takeaway: after Parkland there was a notion that "the kids will win," and here we are.  The kids are seizing the day and winning.

Other than that, we can see how a small group can challenge the status quo and do something bigger and bolder. 

Read more here: https://abcnews.go.com/amp/US/montana-youths-win-climate-lawsuit-fossil-fuels/story?id=102260674

Dave’s latest video

I don't have a new video this week, but one popular video from the archive is all about the Ft. Wilderness Railroad. https://youtu.be/WDqr6MQWSeI

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