Bitchin Dave's Newsletter - July 1st
Quick housekeeping item: it's time for a summer break! Look for a new edition of the newsletter in a few weeks. In the meantime, here's to hoping that you have a fun summer.
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This is a somewhat personal story...
Years ago, I met a guy through some work I was doing on the web and we became friends. We found out we had a lot in common, and would hang out a few times a year (we lived in different parts of the country, so it revolved around common activities). He appeared on a Dolphins podcast that I had at one point, and on my Disney podcast, too.
He was a good human being. And I was glad to call him a friend.
The pandemic came, and we didn't see each other for a while, and we fell behind on communicating. Hey. It happens, that's life.
I saw something that I was pretty sure this friend would enjoy knowing about, so I dropped him an email. I got a fairly unexpected reply, from his daughter: "sorry to tell you that he passed away after a brief illness, about two months ago"
I was stunned. I reached out to a few other mutual friends to let them know. Only to find out that during his illness, he had reached out to them to let them know he was not doing well. And then a fairly close friend of his let this group know when he passed.
But I was left out of the conversation. That stung a little more.
We obviously hadn't been that close in the last few years, and I hardly blame him. But I was mildly surprised that the other folks hadn't mentioned anything to me.
Again, that is life. Still, it made me a little sad.
I reflected back on an interview from a few years back with former Dolphin player, and hall of famer, Larry Little.
He told a story about how a college teammate was in town, and had reached out and asked him to dinner. Little said he was too tired and didn't go. And the friend wound up having a heart attack and dying a few days later. Little felt great guilt and shared some advice for all of us: always try and see people that you care about when you have the chance. Don't let being tired or busy be an excuse. Cherish the people you like, and let them in.
And that's what I was trying to do in reaching out to my friend, and others who I've lost touch with over the years. My aim is to cultivate better friendships, and try to not let this happen anymore to people I actually like and care about. It's not so hard to send an email, or a quick text, or even make time to meetup if the person is nearby. Or, these days, use one of the cool video tools like Zoom to do a virtual meet-up.
And that's the same advice I pass along to you. The world is strange a lot of the time, but there are good people in it. I'd like to encourage anyone reading this to make an effort to not let people just slip out of your life, only to find out that they died unexpectedly.
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Woah. Of course we all know that liquids conform to whatever vessel they are placed in. Move liquid from a round container to a square one and the liquid will just fill it up. And then move it back, and it will once again fill the round container. But in this case, scientists found an unusual outcome as it relates to liquids that maintain a shape. It's weird, but it's science! The particles created magnetic dipoles, a phenomenon where their magnetic poles attract each other, creating a field of "chains" on the liquid's surface. This interaction interferes with how the emulsion separates. Video here: Details here: https://www.livescience.com/physics-mathematics/student-accidentally-creates-shape-recovering-liquid-thats-an-exception-to-the-laws-of-thermodynamics |
A company called Notpla is working on a seaweed coating to put over a cardboard container. The result is something that can biodegrade quicky and easily. They're partnering with some European business, and with some big stadium operators to replace the packaging that's used when serving food at games and events. They also toyed with an idea for seaweed-based cups to replace single-use plastic cups, but post-pandemic, opted to focus on these takeaway containers. |
Leonardo Davinci did some drawings of the Sforza Castle, and included in them were a series of underground tunnels. Centuries passed, and the landscape changed. The tunnels were lost to history. Except that some archaeologists referred back to these drawings, and used ground penetrating radar. And found the tunnels. This is one of those fun stories that makes one marvel at the ability of Davinci to show us the real world. |
SpaceX's large craft - starship - has experienced a series of problems recently. They have managed to launch several vehicles, and have returned the booster successfully; and even "caught it" a few times. But the upper stage hasn't found any success. The rockets mis-fire. The attitude can't be controlled. The payload doors won't open. And recently, they had a spectacular explosion on the pad while performing a static fire test. I know that there is a lot of trial and error involved. And space is hard. But it just seems like maybe the spacecraft is too big and powerful and it just can't be harnessed properly. Anyway, you can watch the explosion on the attached link: And one amusing thing. Afterwards, Elon channeled his inner Python fan and said "it's just a scratch" - which is amusing (yet stupid, coming from him)  |
Disney submitted their 20 year plan for land usage to the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District (the state-run board that replaced the Reedy Creek Improvement District). Most of it is the pro forma land usage plans. But there were a couple of interesting items within it. First was that they set aside property for two "minor theme parks." These would be things like water parks or amusement park-type areas. But, more interestingly is that they left space for a 5th theme park. Speculation is running wild on the internet on what that means, and when it could happen. But the reality is that there is (to this point) no concrete plan in place. This is speculative, and leaves room for future growth, should Disney decide to expand like that. Still its important to note that Disney is planning for more growth. |
Though he's not perfect, I would argue that Cuban is one of the better(ish) billionaires. He has an interesting perspective on how companies can do more - on their own - to solve the problem of people having to go on Medicaid. In short: Pay a fair wage out of the ginormous profits. I mean duh. I think he's generally right that companies and businesses can do more to help mitigate the inherent problems with poverty. https://www.businessinsider.com/mark-cuban-embarassed-staff-assistance-cut-medicaid-employees-taxpayers-companies-2025-6 |
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