Bitchin Dave's Newsletter - September 19

  

September 19, 2023 Insights, news, ramblings, and other serious nonsense from Dave

Dave’s Musings

One thing that drives me crazy is conspiracy theories. Looking at it from a distance, you might realize that large scale ones - like the Kennedy assassination or faking the moon landing - would require a ridiculous amount of planning and coordination. And they would also require that too many people would know, and would be willing to keep that secret. It's just not reasonable to have a conspiracy like that. And add in any technology that would have been required, and it's a task that would be easier to NOT fake.

And then you have the smaller scale ones in recent times that come from a "crazy uncle" that maybe seem like a possibility for a moment. At least until you stop and think about how crazy they really sound. Someone was running a child sex trafficking ring out a pizza shop? A senator has been replaced by a duplicate (like in the movie "Dave" where the president was replaced)?

But then they get parroted many times over, and suddenly they gain some traction. Its amazing (not in a good way) what the internet can do in terms of sucking people in and giving them just enough to support a belief or bias that they have.

As always, I remind you to consider carefully what you read and its source.

  

One of the great things about science overall is the notion that we create theories to explain the world (and universe) around us, but are willing to accept that new evidence may challenge these theories. We had a theory about the universe and how it expands. Along came the Hubble Space Telescope, and it suggested a different answer. Scientists called the difference the "Hubble tension" ... the launch of the James Webb Space Telescope would hopefully show something that matched with the original theory. Except that it confirmed what Hubble showed, and now there's a cosmological problem of sorts. And while its a relatively minor argument, and scientists disagree, they all are aware that we may have a new accepted theory of how this all works. https://bigthink.com/starts-with-a-bang/jwst-confirms-worsens-hubble-tension/

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) recently announced that they are working on Wireless Energy Transmission, using high energy lasers. Of course the intended purpose is for ensuring the military can be powered anywhere in the world. But even so, the concept is intriguing and may be an enormous breakthrough. A lesser-known nugget: Nikola Tesla proposed the idea of wireless energy transmission nearly 100 years ago. He even tested the theory and started to build a tower to provide energy to an area in New Jersey. (but that's a story for another day) Intriguingly - and not to sound like a conspiracy theorist - all of his notes and records for everything he was working on (a "death ray" among them) were confiscated by the FBI upon his death. Interesting Engineering - DARPA More about Tesla

There's a bear in Disney World! Although guests are used to seeing Henry, Big Al, Liver Lips, Wendell and the rest of the Country Bears in Frontierland, this was different. A real life black bear was spotted near the Magic Kingdom, although it was incorrectly reported that it was in the park. I mean why would they let him in without a ticket? He was in a backstage area near (what was) Splash Mountain. So as a precaution, some areas of the park were closed until he could be safely removed and relocated to the Forest in Ocala. As far as I know, its the first time this has ever happened in Disney World. Which may suggest that habitats are changing for bears as they wander further away. Just a little something to consider.

I was reading that Starbucks - with its global coffee chain accounting for more locations than any other store - wants to do away with single use cups and lids. An admirable goal, to be sure. But the question is how? They've been testing out compostable lids in some places. And they have plenty of ideas for the cups: making them compostable, forming a cup sharing program, washing cups, and offering an opportunity for customers to bring their own cup. To me, the one thing that would really work with customers is to engage them with an incentive. Bring a cup, return a cup. or otherwise contribute, and get a discount. Financial incentives and making people feel a part of something seems obvious. Its worth keeping an eye on because of their reach - and the amount of waste that is produced because of them. What they do will be replicated by others.

One Little Spark …  … for your imagination

Last week Ketanji Brown Jackson, the first black woman to serve on the Supreme Court, spoke about the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing, which happened 60 years ago in Birmingham, Alabama.  

She spoke of confronting race and race issues, even though they may be uncomfortable.  Or perhaps because they are uncomfortable.

“I know that atrocities like the one we are memorializing today are difficult to remember and relive, But I also know that it is dangerous to forget them.” 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HiZNSfz42H8

Dave’s latest video

Jimmy Carter turns 99 on October 1st. I'd like to point you to a video I did about a visit to Disney World on his 54th birthday. https://youtu.be/dYTrhYH41jg?si=7hsqSieUSXXeWKQM

-----

To subscribe, unsubscribe, contact > geezergamer92@gmail.com

Feeling melancholy

The CEO of the company I used to work for got this "nice write up" in a trade journal. It was about his bold decision making during the pandemic. How he made all these plans to keep business going (and grow it!). And how he looked after his employees so they wouldn't be layoffs. 

And for his effort, he was awarded compensation in the $50 million range last year. Because he was great and the company made so much money!

And of course, I was simply shown the door because there had to be some cost cutting. I didn't even get the proverbial "gold watch." No fanfare, just return your computer and slink into the night.  

It's easy to pin it on my old boss - but it's never that simple. I was a good performer and had just finished a major project. She had to get multiple levels of approval to release me. And even the CEO has to have been aware of whatever number of employees that were, in fact, released. 

Gotta get rid of 500 employees to make up that number of dollars you received in compensation. 

It's sad. And very insulting. 

And I take a very different view of the article. 

Thanks for nothing, pal. 

The great Cornholio!

Saw this posted somewhere. It's hilarious. Except for the billboard that was in the foreground needed to be for TP for his bunghole. So I fixed it. 

Jimmy Carter is turning 99

 Jimmy Carters birthday is on October 1st 

You can send a virtual greeting as part of a birthday mosaic by visiting this site: https://www.cartercenter.org/news/upcoming_events/promo/jimmy-carter-99th-birthday.html

I did mine, which you can see here: https://livemosaics.com/share.php?key=TTMzMTIwMTF8cDB8TTc5NTQyOTEtMXxlbg==

Why a Disney picture. He visited Disney world on his birthday while he was serving as president!  You can view that story here:

https://youtu.be/dYTrhYH41jg?si=7hsqSieUSXXeWKQM

Florida's Brightline Train Is Officially Launching In September

Ummmm. Starting at $79 one way, to get from the Brightline station near Ft. Lauderdale airport to Orlando airport?

One would have to also pay to park at Ft Lauderdale (or take a ride share), and then still get from the Orlando airport to whatever destination via public transit, or a ride share.

Back of the envelope here:
$80 for the ticket + $30 to get to the Brightline + $30 to get to destination.

And then the reverse. That's $140 x 2.

$280 for an individual to go to Orlando and home.

What of time?

They say it's about 2.5 hours to get between the airports. Plus transit to the airport. Plus transit from. So probably 3.5 hours door to door.

Which is the same as driving.

I fail to see the value proposition.

https://www.travelandleisure.com/brightline-orlando-florida-train-7500551

Short. Sweet. To the point. That's the beauty Dave's iPhone.

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

-----

To subscribe, unsubscribe, contact > geezergamer92@gmail.com

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

-----

To subscribe, unsubscribe, contact > geezergamer92@gmail.com