Talk about cool tech!

Walt Disney had dreams, plans, and ambitions.  He created a department called WED enterprises that brought together creative minds with can-do attitudes to build all manner of things.   He let their creativity run wild, and many of their innovations are on display in the theme parks (and a few beyond).

This group was rebranded as Imagineering at some point after Walt's death, but still had that spirit, that ability to create.

They went through ups and downs, and had a spell where their creativity was tempered by marketing looking at how they could profit off the ideas - other than simply using them in the themeparks.

Creativity was reportedly stifled, and there was some turnover in the group (and some left to go to other theme parks and entertainment businesses).

But now it would seem that things are turning back around and their creativity is a nice hybrid of cool tech coupled with some "possibility" of revenue generation.

Take a look behind the scenes via the Hollywood Reporter.

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/disney-imagineering-parks-1235880265/

GM could be the next big thing in the EV space (or maybe not)

GM is trying to create a totally new battery configuration.  Early development was going well, and they were on to something and got a patent.  But they are struggling to build this at scale for a number of reasons.  

Still, I like what they are thinking, and it may just take a while longer to get there.

https://www.thecooldown.com/green-tech/gm-ev-battery-patent-general-motors/

About the guy who took on disney (and lost)

This is a long form article about the guy who was at the heart of the proxy fight.  I'll let you read it and form your own opinions.  But I will leave you with this: this is the kind of person we need to hear less from in society.

Perhaps Disney could do more to help itself, but the specific things he points out are....pretty old man thinking.

https://english.elpais.com/culture/2024-04-30/disney-why-do-we-need-a-cast-made-up-of-only-women-or-blacks-how-nelson-peltz-beckhams-father-in-law-is-trying-to-change-the-company.html

I found this intriguing

In short, the land around Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City is a blight of parking lots - which are only used 10 times a year, or so.  That land could be used for so much more, so many better things.

It should serve as a reminder that we can be better.

https://www.thecooldown.com/green-business/arrowhead-stadium-parking-lot-reddit-photo/

About businesses struggling…

I read this and thought .... you know its funny.  When a company does something that people get offended by they use silly terms like "go woke, go broke" ... but when its a good old, fashioned southern restaurant chain that has done nothing to offend, there's a list of rational-sounding reasons why they're struggling.

And yes, you can apply these same reasons to most of the struggling businesses today, and not their "woke-ness"

https://www.mashed.com/1553656/reasons-cracker-barrel-struggling/

Of course they did…

A vegan cheese won an award for being an excellent cheese, and so dairy farmers conspired to disqualify the winner because its not made with milk and therefore not cheese.

People get so hung up on trivial things - cheese, milk, beef, chicken, these are all words we are familiar with and have a specific meaning in general. But why can't these things include both plant and animal based products?

Just label it accordingly, and list the ingredients. 

I am not sure why it matters.  Andrew Zimmern in his "Bizarre Foods" show used to use the tagline "if it looks good, eat it" which I think sums this up well.

Personally, I don't eat mammals, but I will eat eggs and cow/sheep/goat milk products.  Some of the plant based alternatives are okay, but most of them I don't care for.  But if someone wants to eat animal products - or cares not to eat any of them - why do I care?

Eat what makes you happy.

https://boingboing.net/2024/04/29/after-a-vegan-blue-cheese-won-the-good-food-award-panicked-dairy-cheese-makers-forced-the-foundation-to-disqualify-it.html

And that’s what great about scientific theories

The James Webb Space Telescope caused some amount of controversy in the cosmological space.  The way the universe appeared through its sensors appeared to conflict with what we had previously learned through observation and other studies.

But ... after taking some time to really evaluate the results, and how they relate to, say, what we see with the Hubble Space Telescope, scientists are re-thinking what they observe, and maybe there is no cosmological crisis after all.

It would appear that the old and new findings likely do agree, but IMHO its about perspective.  You might think about it in the same way that you think about relativity.  The location of the observer is a factor in understanding that theory - much like the positioning of the various spacecraft helps us to understand the universe.

https://bigthink.com/hard-science/james-webb-space-telescope-cosmology/