Bitchin' Dave's Newsletter - Apr 16

 Dave’s Musings

You may have noticed that chocolate prices are increasing. Why, you may ask? It's a combination of things including illegal gold mining, mismanagement of the land, and everyone's favorite topic: climate change.

Once again, climate change has a direct impact on us, and threatens something most of us enjoy.

More here: https://www.aljazeera.com/gallery/2024/3/30/chocolate-prices-to-keep-rising-as-west-africas-cocoa-crisis-deepens

Another player emerged in the space launch arena. Stratolaunch is doing something similar to Virgin Galactic in that they are dropping a hypersonic aircraft from a larger airplane. So far, they are focused on payloads that need to be hypersonic for various reasons - but the plan is to be able to send the craft into low Earth orbit for experimentation or to release a satellite. https://gizmodo.com/stratolaunch-first-hypersonic-test-flight-roc-ta-1-1851325099

Scientists have discovered that Miassite, when grown in a lab, can perform as superconductors - materials that can conduct electricity without energy loss. Its incredible to find this out, since it is a naturally occurring element that can be formed in a lab to increase its viability. And because this can happen at a temperature close to room temperature, and doesn't react with other elements (like metal does) this has exciting possibilities. https://phys.org/news/2024-03-scientists-reveal-unconventional-superconductor-mineral.html

A while ago, there was a rumor that Tesla and Disney were partnering to update the old "go karts" that run on gasoline, to go fully electric. It seemed fanciful yet pretty cool. Autopia at DisneyLand and The Tomorrowland Speedway would help lead to a new future, and we could finally get rid of the gas fumes. Sadly, that turned out to be nothing more than a rumor. But a good idea is a good idea. And about a week ago, Disney announced that they will be changing over to electric, on their own, at Autopia in DisneyLand. Details will be forthcoming, and it remains to be seen when a transition might happen at Disney World, but I'm definitely in favor of Tomorrowland being forward-looking for the first time in a while.

Europe has been charging hard at Apple for some time. And now the Department of Justice is coming at them, too. But I admit to being a little confused about this. Apple came up with a phone that was proprietary and then came up with an eco system that it resided within. And because of their own patents and business practices, its working as it was designed. But at issue is that they "don't play nice" with their competitors and that they are anti-competitive with what they do. But isn't that essentially what corporations do? Don't they carve out a niche and then excel at it? It seems odd that this is a problem. But maybe that's just me.

Latest video

Here is the story about the Haunted Mansion at DisneyLand and Walt Disney World https://youtu.be/2Esfyq-gxXc

One Little Spark …

There's a pretty good long form article (behind a paywall, of course) about how Amazon ran a bit of a scheme to reduce their workforce by putting people on "improvement plans" for various reasons, and then getting rid of them (ostensibly) for cause, so they wouldn't be due any sort of separation package. They refer to it as "quiet firing" ... This caught my attention because I recently visited Texas, and read and heard about its rather rich history, with regard to Mexico, the slave trade, how they dealt with indigenous people, and how they came to be a republic and later a state. Free, white people felt a sense of pride to be from there. But others, maybe not so much. A term that kept coming up was "obligation" - for those that were involved in fighting against Spain, Mexico, and later against the Union, it was about being a part of something. About becoming Texas. But for those that were not, it was about being obliged to follow along and just go with it. They had little to no say, and generally weren't treated that well. And I know, I'm painting with a broad brush here. It just struck me that the idea of the company having control - and rank and file employees just having to roll with things was interesting in that context. https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-hr-document-employees-pip-layoffs-performance-improvement-plans-2024-3

Buoy goes missing off the Florida keys and ends up in Scotland?

The buoy is (or was) a navigational aid that broke free and rode the Gulf Stream up to Scotland. 

It's crazy how our oceans work, isn't it?

You can read more about the Gulf Stream here:

https://scijinks.gov/gulf-stream/

Street flooding and racism

Here's an article about how widening the interstate impacted residents in a predominantly black neighborhood. 

Given that there appear to be text exchanges about the DOT knowing about this and proceeding anyway is really just sad. 

As one resident said - 

'There's no more lynchings and hangings. It's coming after your finances.'

Pete Buttigieg took it seriously enough that he visited the area. Now let's hope that someone does something about it. 

https://abcnews.go.com/US/buttigieg-visits-predominantly-black-alabama-community-abc-news/story?id=109087152

 

The roots of racism run deep

You could certainly spin this story to be more about greed, but its hard to overlook the overtones.

The basic story is that there's an older cemetery for black, mostly enslaved people, outside of Atlanta - one which has multiple generations dating back to before the civil war.  A developer bought the land and wanted to relocate the bodies to elsewhere. Legal action ensued, and the developer agreed to leave the cemetery in place, and to maintain it, and give the public -  especially the family - access to it.

Only, he fell short of his promises and blames the HOA and the families for lack of access and maintenance.  They are suing to rectify the situation.

What I find offputting is how easily this developer just moves on when there's no money to be made. And worse so when the people who are afflicted are ignored because they aren't able to help him financially.  

https://www.cnn.com/2024/03/30/us/piney-grove-cemetery-buckhead-lawsuit/index.html

Voyager 1 update

It looks like a repair is under way to the craft. Apparently, there is a damaged memory chip and they're figuring out how to work around it.

A repair crew is en route; they'll need to show their AAA card to the technician when they arrive. 😆

In the meantime, I rather enjoyed reading how the code was written in fortran(!) and that there's more computing power in car door locks than in this space ship.

That's pretty remarkable.

https://www.iflscience.com/nasa-discovers-cause-of-repeating-pattern-sent-back-by-voyager-1-73772

Refrigerators and planned obsolescence

Most of the refrigerator manufacturers cut corners (it would seem), and make refrigerators that break much sooner than you'd anticipate.

They complicate things by making them hard to repair or not covering some parts under the warranty, or not having parts in stock.

And that tweaks the bottom line because consumers have to buy another fridge!

But here's a case where a group of consumers are saying whirlpool for this practice.

We - as humans - can be better. Refrigerators are not good for the environment, once their service life is over. So you would think companies might come up with different methods or try and at least make them last.

But you'd be wrong.

https://www.thecooldown.com/green-business/whirlpool-refrigerator-lawsuit-defective-wiring/

Bitchin' Dave's Newsletter - Apr 9

 Dave’s Musings

There was a recent article in Forbes about wealth inequity in this country. They refer to it as a "New Gilded Age" as layoffs among employees are fairly commonplace, while companies continue to make enormous profits - and the executives of said companies get paid lavishly for their work.

Its yet another reason to hate on the system, and why employee engagement is so abysmally low. There's no investment in employees, no attempt to retain them, and hiring is just absurd with "AI systems" rejecting people for jobs they are eminently qualified for, without the candidate even getting a resume to a hiring manager.

There's so little to build on, as companies just want you to pour everything into a job, and accept that they are giving you a paycheck; all the while they consider you to just be a number.

Florida didn’t get much of a view of the solar eclipse, but nevertheless, it was spectacular to see images coming in from places in the direct path! this is a view from Mazatlan Mexico And a view from Burlington, VT And I would like to point out something: the path of the eclipse is such that only a small swath of the country could see it and have a total eclipse, while the rest of the nation has a partial eclipse; depending on location, a percentage of the moon obscured the sun - less, the further that we move away from the path. And why is that? Because of the curvature of the Earth! If the Earth was flat, then the entire US would have experienced an eclipse.

Here's a cool piece of tech that allows for wireless power transmission; outdoor things can be powered without being connected to an outlet. Its a "puck" that you plug in and attach to a window, then you place a receiver outside which you can plug into via USB. It uses a magnetic field to connect the devices. While its mostly a prototype for now, the concept is very intriguing and could revolutionize way we use power. https://newatlas.com/around-the-home/power-mole-transmits-electricity-window-glass/

Disney's proxy battle came to an end last week. Typically, board room challenges are difficult and the odds are long. Still, the Peltz bid picked up a fair amount of momentum and it was close ... but in the end, the mostly predictable outcome was that the company "won" the proxy fight. As you might guess, the overall reality of the outcome is more nuanced. The board got a wakeup call from big investors, there is acknowledgement that some C-suite thinking needs to evolve, and its clear that Iger needs to start truly succession planning right away. So....in a way, you could argue that Peltz got what he wanted to a large degree.

I've seen a few articles recently about universal basic income. Several cities have piloted programs, and there's a group of investors who are doing a controlled study in Denver to see what impact this might have on people's lives. The results thus far are encouraging. We see that the participants in each of the specific cities who are receiving benefits from the government are happier, at least somewhat successful, and are are more self-sufficient. And it seems to curb homelessness - which is always a desired outcome. "For many ... households, a small monthly infusion of unconditional cash can make the difference between stability and deep poverty." And in the Denver story, they're testing various amounts of money over different periods of time to see if one solution works better than others. But in every case, they're seeing positive results. Of course, there are people who think this is a horrible idea, and people should have to fend for themselves. But as we've seen in the past, there is such a disparity in wealth that some people can simply never catch up, through no fault of their own. https://www.businessinsider.com/guaranteed-basic-income-san-antonio-texas-woman-afford-food-housing-2024-4?amp https://www.businessinsider.com/georgia-basic-income-program-low-income-black-women-debt-bills-2024-3?amp https://www.denverbasicincomeproject.org/research

Latest video

This video is about Reusable rockets https://youtu.be/1XiUd76ZVl0

One Little Spark …

I was “downsized” from my job, and a few weeks ago, I opted to apply for unemployment from the state of Florida. [aside: I'm at ease with my situation, and am making a switch to consulting at this point in my career] Keep in mind that unemployment money comes from the companies that do business in the state. It’s paid by them to cover unemployment insurance as a regular assessment; it does not come directly out of the states bottom line. But Florida wants people to work! And so limits you to 12 weeks of payments. The amount you receive is dependent on what you were making while employed, but caps at $275 per week. Which equates to about $6.87 per hour - while in Florida the minimum wage is $12 (federal minimum is $7.25 by the way). Clearly it is a disincentive. And what's this? The amount paid through unemployment hasn't changed in nearly two decades. And by the way, that money is taxed at a rate of about 20%. So it’s nowhere near being enough to live on. (The notion that people are complacent with unemployment and don't want to go back to work is asinine!) Then, there’s the bureaucratic process of applying, which could take up to two weeks before you’re even eligible. And the first week in the system is a non-payment week. Meaning that you only get paid after your 3rd week out of work. Payments are every two weeks, so essentially you have very little money, and a long time between getting it. There’s followup required each week which takes time and effort, and the agency is a typical state agency that is underfunded and has a lot of red tape.  I have to imagine many people struggle with this system, have to take whatever job, or simply give up. In any of those cases, the state can report that unemployment is low! There’s something very broken about our system, and as it stands this greatly favors lower-wage paying businesses who can take advantage of people. It’s pretty sad.