More lunar missions!

Recently, SpaceX launched a ride share mission with two separate lunar landers on board. 

The launch was cool because the trajectory took it to a high orbit, then the second stage had three separate burns to move into low-earth orbit, higher earth orbit, and on a path toward the moon out of earths orbit. 

The missions were described thusly:

Blue Ghost is a commercial lunar lander developed by Firefly Aerospace for NASA's CLPS program. Blue Ghost is designed to bring up to 155kg of payload to the lunar surface. It will land at Mare Crisium in the Crisium Basin and is designed to last 14 days before freezing in the lunar night.

Resilience is the second mission of the Hakuto-R commercial lunar lander developed by private Japanese company ispace. The lander will carry a small rover developed by ispace to perform studies on the moon's surface. The rover is also expected to collect lunar regolith as part of a contract with NASA signed in 2020, in which companies will collect materials on the moon and then transfer ownership "in situ" to the agency.

Movie making in Florida

This story starts with an introduction to author Carl Hiassen.  Carl lives in Miami, and writes some short stories about the reality of things that happen here. And longer (at least partially fictional) stories loosely based on real events.  

The stories are weird and wonderful, taking place in the state of Florida. We didn't get the "Florida Man" name for nothing!

Anyway, one of the stories he wrote was "Bad Monkey" which Apple TV made into a mini series starring Vince Vaughn.  It takes place in the Keys and Miami and is fun.  But the cool part is that its not only set here, it was actually filmed here.

If you haven't seen it, I do recommend it.  It is bizarre and pretty funny. The series was based on the book, and ended in much the same way as its source. That's that.  

But... Apple found it to be such a success that they are ordering a season 2.  Except that its not based on a specific work, Hiassen will only "consult" on the general theme, and it will be filmed in Hollywood, but be set in the keys again.

It all raises many questions, but the biggest one has to do with why it won't be filmed here.  Its because the state doesn't have any sort of tax incentive to produce movies here, and very often shows are set here but filmed in California.  Its weird.

More bad reporting

Macy's recently announced a plan to close underperforming stores.  

They made the announcement and listed off the stores. That got picked up and media outlets ran with a headline "Macys closing!" and proceeded to list locations of stores that sure didn't seem to fit with "underperformance."

Since that didn't seem right, I looked at the addresses for stores in Florida.  And discovered that these were not Macy's stores, but rather Macy's Furniture stores, which are not your traditional storefronts.

I guess technically they are Macy's stores, but they were created as stand alone stores that only sell furniture.  They are large and expensive to run - and have been considered for closure for quite some time.

But the headline that Macys is closing is more salacious and requires no research.  That is just lazy and sad.  And again shows that no one can do an ounce of research.

Weirdness in booking a Disney trip

As most of you know, I host a Disney world history YouTube series. I've been going to the parks for most of my life and have enjoyed being a local. 

Pre-pandemic, I knew what was what. I knew the tricks. I understood the ins and outs of making a visit. And everything could be done as a spur of the moment type of thing…

Then came the pandemic and the rules started to change. Of course you had the evolution of fastpass which complicated everything. But it was more than that. 

Now I have to make a reservation - subject to availability - to go to the parks. And oddly, most of the knowledge about how to manage the parks became irrelevant. 

I had promised my son a trip to Disney world when he graduated high school….but he graduated during the pandemic, and then went off to college. So we had to wait. 

Finally, we had an opportunity to go. I had to get him a ticket … which was complicated and maybe a little stressful - because the ticket prices vary wildly depending on when you want to go. And it is way more expensive than it was 5 years ago. 

Of course, there was still the matter of proving he is a Florida resident, which didn't work online, meaning we had to go to a guest relations window just to activate his ticket.  

And nevermind that I had to book a reservation to visit a park using my annual pass.

You have to spend time and effort and work through it, and figure it out. I can only imagine for a newbie how hard this is...

And on that note, I happened to see a video from a guy who had never been.  He outlined his confusion and the challenges he faced.  He ended with his thought that its not really worth it.  That intrigued me.

And then when my son and I went, we encountered some interesting folks.  One guy had some pretty serious complaints about attractions and wait times (and lightning lane), dining availability, and assorted confusion.  I heard "if only I had known" and "this shouldn't be this hard."

And that sums up the current experience at Disney World.  

License plate cameras on the open internet?

Here's a story about a man who discovered that many of the license plate cameras in use are actually not behind any layer of security. 

Anyone can simply access them and track vehicles in real time. Which he proceeded to do in order o make a point. 

Privacy is not something that is generally given a second thought when there's money to be made with little effort. 

https://www.404media.co/researcher-turns-insecure-license-plate-cameras-into-open-source-surveillance-tool/

That's the world we live in. 

Vivek Murthy suggests we rethink how we’re living our lives

This is an uplifting letter from the outgoing surgeon general as he reflects on how we as humans live. One part reminds of us what fulfillment is:

I have come to see there are three essential elements that fuel our fulfillment and well-being: relationships, service, and purpose. 

Relationships keep us grounded and bonded to each other. Service, from formal volunteering to informal small acts of kindness, is about helping each other. And purpose gives our life a sense of direction and meaning. Together, these elements form the triad of fulfillment. 

https://people.com/surgeon-general-vivek-murthy-americans-closing-letter-rethink-how-we-are-living-our-lives-exclusive-8770191

This is worth a read. 

Watch ""Fight Back!" Classics: Sears Trash Can 1500-Foot Drop Test" on YouTube

I love this piece for so many reasons. 

It's educational and informative

It applies a bit of scientific rigor and healthy amount of curiosity. They even poll the audience, who seem interested. 

It's not sponsored, and is independent for the sake of understanding 

It's good journalism. 

It's consumer oriented, and what do you know the product they test was well made.

I know there is some of this still available on the internet, but not enough of it. It's drowned out by vapid themes.

ahhh,  simpler times …

https://youtu.be/f8KIG7P9Vjc?si=_m1lpWzeBRxTyMu_