Bitchin Dave's newsletter - October 17

  

October 17, 2023 Insights, news, ramblings, and other serious nonsense from Dave

Dave’s Musings

The story about the murder of two Swedes in Belgium was striking on several levels. If you’re not familiar with the back story, there have been incidents of burning the Quran in Sweden. 

It would appear that a Muslim man took exception to this and attacked these tourists who were in Brussels for a soccer match.  The police tracked the man down, and wound up killing him, and it was labeled a terrorist act. 

What strikes me, first, is that these people were killed by a gun. Which is very unusual in Belgium (and frankly, in most of Europe). 

Second, was the outrage that the people felt about the murder of people; not being jaded as we are. There was no shrug, and no “thoughts and prayers” as the primary response. 

And third was the overall reaction.  The country raised the terror level and set about preventing any further attacks. And then proceeded to cancel the soccer game (which the tourists were there to see) as it reached halftime - because “it seemed like the right thing to do.”

Sometimes we need to consider the rest of the world and its actions - and take heart that we are an exception of sorts. 

  

Although they have yet to really delve into the details of the asteroid sample that returned to Earth last month, scientists have begun the process. And what have they noted so far? That the sample contains both Carbon and water. As you may know, these are the two primary things needed to produce life as we know it. Of course, its impossible - for now - to really know what this means. But the prospects are exciting as they embark on the years of study that lay ahead. Dante Lauretta, the principal investigator said: “The bounty of carbon-rich material and the abundant presence of water-bearing clay minerals are just the tip of the cosmic iceberg. These discoveries, made possible through years of dedicated collaboration and cutting-edge science, propel us on a journey to understand not only our celestial neighborhood but also the potential for life’s beginnings. With each revelation from Bennu, we draw closer to unraveling the mysteries of our cosmic heritage.”

During World War II, everyone tried to gain an edge in warfare, in whatever way they could. And while much of the progress was is fairly well documented, every once in a while, you hear about something that was mostly unknown. I just read a story about a catapult that England was building, which would allow them to launch bombers without needing a long runway. It wasn't practical at the time, but some of the innovations did lead to advances in catapult launches from ships. Catapult discovery

Disney always has a wealth of entertainment-related ideas, and regularly submits patents which allow us to see their thinking.  They noticed an “opportunity” as it relates to electric vehicle charging.  While Tesla vehicles have an integrated infotainment system and allow you to watch a movie or play a game on the display, other vehicles have no such means of passing the time.  Enter the patent: Disney wants to create what it describes as an immersive entertainment pod into which people can drive their vehicles. Disney provides a lot of examples via illustration and explains its broader idea this way.  'In one embodiment, the entertainment system includes a display external to the vehicle and viewable by an occupant of the vehicle. The entertainment system includes a communication module to receive occupant preferences from an occupant, and a processor configured to generate or modify content to be presented on the display based on the occupant preferences," the company wrote in the patent abstract. In the drawings, the pod looks a lot like a rounded garage. That pod, according to the filing, could include vehicle charging, and it would allow for immersive experiences. That would include "driving" around environments, with a safari given as an example.

Two researchers at MIT have proposed a method for free, universal healthcare that should get a lot more press.  What they propose is radical to be sure. They propose doing away with the current system and starting off.  The theory is that the cost would go down, the results would improve, and care would get better.  I’d love to see this enter an actual discussion.    Details can be found here: Fixing Healthcare

One Little Spark …  … for your imagination

One of the (many) things that bugs me is the way black Americans are treated because of the way they look, dress, or wear their hair. 

There’s a student in Texas who has dreadlocks. But they don’t conform to the school dress code, so he was told he had to cut them. He refused, and was suspended. 

The school tried “reasoning” with the parents (a misnomer. He was told he had to comply), but when that failed, he was told he was no longer welcome at the school and had to enroll at an alternate school, which appears to be a reform school of sorts. 

This is not who we are. This isn’t acceptable. He needs to be treated with dignity and respect and not singled out because of how he chooses to wear his hair (and to be fair, he keeps it very neat, so that shouldn’t even be considered as a problem)

Read more here https://apnews.com/article/hairstyles-racial-discrimination-crown-act-d4c682d334f52eac813d109b7499901e

Dave’s latest video

I took a trip see a space launch. I talk about the experience and do a little sciencing. https://youtu.be/3MoQafDbq_U?si=Nj1e12VPlgxswflc

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No storm warning for these hurricanes

I grew up in south Florida. In the 70s, and the university of Miami was a good school but hardly known for its football.

Along came Howard Schnellenberger in the early 1980s, who guided the team to bigger things. They became the scrappy upstarts who upended college football. They beat powerhouse teams in their own stadiums, and capped it with a national championship at the end of the 1983 season.

They were on the map, and became a premier team for the next two decades.

They won five national championships, played in a few more, lost out in the pre-BCS era on voting in other years.

Everyone loved to hate them. And as a student at the university, it was hard not to get caught up in the hype.

I watched them play as often as I could over that span, and it was fun.

Then there was that weird game at the end of the 2002 season against Ohio State. In the 2nd OT, Ohio State failed on the last play - hey Miami won! Except … wait for it … there was a flag for pass interference a few moments later. Ohio State got another try and "won." That moment sticks with a lot of fans and we talk about it a lot.

Why? Probably because it was the last time Miami played an impactful game.

That was 22 seasons ago. Kids who are seniors on this years team either hadn't been born yet, or were infants.

The Hurricanes have struggled mightily since then. They have had some big games here and there. They have had a stretch at times where pundits say things like "is the U back?"

But here's the reality of it all. They have been through very many coaches. 8 if you include the guy who led the team in that 2002 season and stayed around for a few years. That's about 3 years per coach, on average. New guy says he wants to do away with whatever the last guy did and starts over. But he doesn't have instant success and is let go only to repeat the cycle.

And so here we are. Most seasons have been mediocre at best, and the overall win percentage is around 60% which isn't terrible, but isn't great either.

In that 22 year span, they missed bowl games 7 times. And their record in the other games is 4-11.

About 32% of the time, they didn't even qualify. Consider that it's an indicator of success to a point, since you have to win 6 games and not be on probation to play in one.

And 50% of the time, they lost.

So they won a bowl game 18% of those years. It's not like they played top tier teams. Typically bowl matchups are planned for teams that will be competitive and thus sell more tickets. And yet, they weren't competitive.

We're currently in year 2 of a new coach. Team started off well and won a big game against a quality opponent. They scored a lot, and played good defense. Maybe this could be something.

Then, last week, they faced a team (at home) who isn't very good. Miami was a huge favorite. They'd played terribly, but still almost eeked out a win, except for a coaching decision to run with less than 30 seconds left. The player fumbled and the defense gave up two long plays and a TD to lose the game. It was pathetic and the talk of sports media for the week. How can a team blow that?! It was the number one on the "not top 10"

But hey a loss happens sometimes, even it's embarrassing. There are still 7 weeks to play. Come out and play hard and smart the following week, and you can erase that from memory.

Last night, they played. Led at halftime. And then it was one little thing here. One little thing there. And suddenly they are down by 10. And then by more, and the team seemed to give up. Sure the final was "only" a ten point loss. But it was so much worse.

Why do I keep watching? Rooting for this team? They're terrible and have been terrible for a long time now.

They joined the Atlantic coast conference 18 years ago, with the hope that they could help some of the football programs get better. Which they did. But Miamis got worse.

Inconceivably, Miami has never won an ACC title. Heck they have only qualified for a title game one time - but they were on probation and couldn't play in the game.

I guess it's time to finally admit that they aren't even worth wasting time on anymore. This feeling comes every season, and when they start off hot, I get into it. And then every year around this time, I just throw my hands up and stop paying attention.

I think it's time I start the season throwing my hands up. There's really no point in wasting three hours and getting the emotional letdown that inevitably happens.

I'll do what I do with pretty much every other game in the college world. If it's close in the 4th quarter, I'll watch it. Otherwise I'll just check the box scores. And enjoy my Saturdays.

By the way, I had occasion to visit UMs campus recently and it was vastly different. Almost unrecognizable from when I was there 40 years ago. Much like the football team is unrecognizable.

Thanks for the memories, UM.

A tank sure screams aerodynamic

Bitchin Dave's Newsletter - October 10

  

October 10, 2023 Insights, news, ramblings, and other serious nonsense from Dave

Dave’s Musings

The world is very peculiar at times. I'm not trying to be a downer, but this war in Israel really is quite something. Its in no way simple, and as a result the media is at a loss to really explain it. As a nation, we typically side with Israel, especially because "the enemy" (Hamas) has been labeled a terrorist organization.

Clearly, this is a complex problem with many nuances. But the relative ignorance and looking for an easy way to talk about it is not limited to just the media. The calls to annihilate that enemy from some (notably Senator Rubio) is problematic in its own right, and doesn't really address the larger issues. And then there are calls from others (like Congresswoman Talib, who is Palestinian) suggesting there needs to be more attention paid to the way Israel treats Palestine; this sits on the other side of the way the US has positioned itself.

As educated, fair-minded people, I would encourage us all to study the details and seek to understand the underlying problem, and don't let sound bites determine how we feel about it.This applies here, and to other complicated situations. The more we know, the better off we all will be.

  

Last week, I mentioned that there's a desire to rapidly launch a rocket. It appears as though one of the rockets that was launched by Firefly may have punched a hole in the ionosphere. The interesting thing is that this may have happened with other launches as well. The questions are why this happened, and what the long term impact might be - especially if it happens frequently. Read More on Newsweek

I always enjoy when science can unlock a mystery. In this case, there was a Babylonian tablet that was believed to be over 3,500 years old. But they were unable to decode it. Work continued until they had a breakthrough and determined that this tablet contained a table of entries that, essentially, explained trigonometry. And based on its age, that would mean the Babylonians had mastered trigonometry 1,500 years before the Greeks figured it out. Translated tablet

Disney is in a tough spot. All their media platforms are struggling. Sports is expensive and not generating the returns they'd hope to see. Movies continue to disappoint. And theme park attendance remains down. Bob Iger this week said the company was in worse shape than he thought it was upon his return, and its a very uphill battle to get things right. And then there are the outside voices who have issues with the direction of the company. In particular, billionaire Nelson Peltz, who owns a substantial stake in the company and has strong opinions about it, is asking to be on the board of directors so he can influence what Disney does next. And the management may have little choice but to allow it to happen in order to correct course. There is much work to do going forward, and I think Disney will be making some pretty major changes in the coming months.

Right to repair laws are gaining traction in various states. As a reminder, car companies are trying hard to force consumers to only be able to repair vehicles by the dealer; they are are hoarding information on the computer info to make this happen. But now comes a new angle from the car manufacturers: the ability to repair. By making more fully integrated components, unibody construction, and other things that make parts "irreparable" they are trying to force consumers to simply buy another vehicle, and letting insurance companies eat the cost of a totalled vehicle. This certainly can't last, I'm sure the insurance groups will do what they can to change the course of this. Ability to Repair

One Little Spark …  … for your imagination

There is much discussion about shopping and retail theft, and general "bad behavior" in various settings.  Surely, theres some spillover effect from the pandemic.  Many people stepped out of social situations for around a year, and then people drew lines about how they felt about all of it, and "Karens" became a thing.

As a case in point, there was an odd story about Home Depot investigating retail theft, and finding there was a Florida-based (of course) religious-type who was orchestrating a $3 million ring to steal from the stores, and re-sell merchandise online.

But here's my take on a possible solution.  Companies should stop focusing on the bottom line and resume a strategy of providing great customer service! Engage people. Delight them.  Make them want to come to you and do business.  Self checkout may be helpful in some cases, but forcing people to use it as a primary option achieves the opposite.  And then modifying the policies that are less consumer friendly exacerbates that. 

Do that one thing really well, and I think you'd see a change in behavior as a starting point.

Dave’s latest video

Here's the most popular video from my Lost & Found series: John Lennon & the Lost Weekend. https://youtu.be/hm8tDZj120U

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Bitchin Dave's Newsletter - October 3

  

October 3rd, 2023 Insights, news, ramblings, and other serious nonsense from Dave

Dave’s Musings

One thing that currently drives me crazy is reward points. Companies a few years ago wanted to reward customer loyalty, and thus offered programs to delight and excite their customers. And the rewards were pretty generous, with freebies and assorted offers to their loyal customers.

This came at a cost. As the customers accumulated points, they were a liability of sorts; customers could redeem these points at any time, and they counted against the bottom line in some way. A few people I worked with and I created a solution and patented it, but unfortunately it never went anywhere; the ability to exchange these points seemed like a good idea at the time.

But I digress. Companies in the meantime took a different approach and decided to stop rewarding overall loyalty and instead decided to reward consistent spend (which is a very different thing). Gone were the freebies and many promotions. The number of points required for things went up, and they now have somewhat arbitrary (and often unknown) expiration dates.

I suppose that all goes along with the notion of lack of customer service. Why try and get anyone to do business with you at all?

  

The company Firefly has been working with the US Military to create a "rapid response" launch program. They started 2 years ago with a go for launch, and were able to turn around and liftoff within 21 days. Around 2 months ago, they were able to get from the go to actual launch within 24 hours. Unfortunately, the launch was not successful, so there are still kinks to iron out. But you have to love the sense of purpose. Finally, a week or so ago, they did launch, but there are new concerns about the launch process, the cost, etc. But those things may work themselves out. The pace is staggering, but considering current technology and having rockets literally at the ready, it makes some amount of sense. You can read more here: ARSTechinca

I remember being in school in the 1970s and hearing about advancements in Science. We saw plenty of films on topics that ran the gamut. One particular subject was about cloud seeding to provide rain and "control the weather." Films we saw were like this one: Cloud Seeding (1968) And here we are in 2023, and there are climate conditions that are impacting everything. And so what's old is new again, and they are talking about cloud seeding in Utah at ski resorts. Cloud seeding in Utah I am a bit skeptical of their claims (3% - 10% more snow compared to ... what?) and their methods (atomize something and heat it ... how exactly?), but I am willing to see what happens. It appears to be mostly environmentally harmless activity. And of course there has been 60 years of research into it. So maybe it will help in some way. But then again, maybe this magic rock will cause more snow to fall this year!

ESPN, being one of the first neworks to produce content that people wanted to see, made a deal with every cable provider to be included in a "base cable package" for $4 per subscriber. It was nearly twice the amount that any other network charged and a huge windfall for ESPN. Disney purchased ESPN years ago, knowing this was a generous revenue stream. But then came the idea people going without traditional cable TV and going to streaming services. Disney is trying to figure out how to reposition themselves for profitability. For ESPN, one idea is to allow people to subscribe to a streaming ESPN service. Their proposed price point? $23. I can't decide if that's good business or just greed.

Vox has an interesting take on Facebook account hacks. They suggest that these unending hacks are sometimes an attempt extort money from users, or take any payment methods stored. But more often, these account takeovers are to used to establish some "legitimacy" for crypto scams. The hacked users have longer tenure, more history, and some personal info that the hackers use to set up accounts to move money. And of course to solicit others to try and get rich too. Who knew there was a whole black market for stolen Meta/Facebook accounts?

One Little Spark …  … for your imagination

Voting rights are something worth talking about.  A few years after the civil war, formerly enslaved citizens were granted the right to vote by the 15th amendment.  But voting proved to be no simple task, and they needed a little help.

Congress created something called the "Jim Crow laws" as a means to ensure that these newly created citizens be offered the same opportunities as the white citizens always had.

It helped to a degree to have these laws, and they led us directly to the civil rights movement over 100 years later.  And then after 150 years, the Supreme Court decided we didn't need these laws anymore, and eviscerated them.  

But as you may notice today, voting rights for blacks are still lacking and always under assault.  As exhibit "A" just looking at the voting maps that the state of Alabama has been trying to draw which severely under-represent the black population. (more on that topic here: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/the-supreme-court-will-let-alabamas-congressional-map-be-redrawn-to-better-represent-black-voters)

But who was Jim Crow?  A quick summary is that Jim Crow was a character created by a white man with black face who performed as a stereotypical (as defined by the whites of the time) black man.  Its absurd and very, very racist.  

You can read more about the history in these links:

https://jimcrowmuseum.ferris.edu/what.htm

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Crow_laws

Dave’s latest video

Here's a mostly unknown story about the history of Boca Raton: The Boca Raton army air field. 100,000 people training to fly - and learning to use radar https://youtu.be/CCW6BUGv8dw

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