Bitchin Dave's Newsletter - April 28th

About a month ago, I was contacted by my Alma Mater (UCF), and asked if I would like to participate in evaluating Senior Projects that were being completed by aspiring engineers.

I am not a big believer in making financial donations to universities, but I am more than happy to donate my time, and some energy, to help students!  So I happily agreed.

There was a short training course, and I was asked if I wanted to be virtual (for preliminary rounds), or if I wanted to come in person to judge the final round.  Due to other commitments, I took the virtual option.

The organizers assigned 5 projects for me to evaluate, but I was able to see all of them.  I probably watched 10 in all.

The students were asked to create a 10 minute presentation, and that should include a problem statement, an introduction of the students on the project, why they selected the project, and then to talk about their project.  They should finish with a conclusion.

The thing I noticed was that while some of the ideas were interesting, the videos were mostly mediocre in video or sound quality, and the students simply couldn't follow the rubik.  Thankfully, they gave us an opportunity to provide written feedback, and I took full advantage of that.  Like I said, I'm happy to help these students.  My aim was to be constructive and help them understand what I saw in their work, and maybe to give them some things to consider as they head out into the "real world" and have to create something and make presentations for a living.

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Chernobyl Fungus Seems to Have Evolved an Incredible Ability 

Check this out. Inside of the still very radioactive reactor at Chernobyl, scientists have found a fungus clinging to the wall. And it's thriving. They believe the way it lives is through a process that is something like photosynthesis, but they're calling it radiosynthesis given the way it soaks up radiation. 

Life seems to always find a way. 



Astronomers Just Watched Two Planets Smashing Into Each Other 11,000 Light-Years Away

The basic story is that the astronomers got lucky in a way. They saw two planets at the right angle (relative to earth). at about one astronomical unit away. pass near each other and then saw the spectrum being emitted had changed, and a cloud of debris appears to have formed.  That would indicate a cosmic collision.


New quantum sensor could replace satellites for GPS-free navigation

Color me intrigued! A "quantum sensor" may be a reliable - and more accurate, without the need for satellite coverage - replacement for GPS. 

And it's about to get a full scale test in space, after being deployed within the last month. 



Ultra-fast EV truck charger hits 1 MW using just 500 kW grid power

Here's a novel approach to fast, high capacity charging that larger vehicles need. 

What researchers have done is to integrate several components, and a little bit of electronic management.  They created a system that can draw smaller amounts of power at any given time by using batteries and other pieces of tech to increase the amount of power and allow for speed and efficiency - at over 98% efficient it blows away current fast charging. 





A School District Tried to Help Train Waymos to Stop for School Buses. It Didn’t Work | WIRED

I was driving behind a waymo recently, and was thinking about the "problem" that Waymo's aren't truly autonomous and use a driver in the Philippines to "help"…

It appears that the entirety of the business model is smoke and mirrors. And here's another example of how they don't learn something that's relevant to actual driving. And, there's an underlying problem that tickets aren't issued to a driver, and the company may or may not be responsibly  paying them - or learning from these infractions. 


Disney's Lakeshore Lodge

Disney is on a never-ending quest to put their hand in your wallet in various ways.  One of those ways is through their "Disney Vacation Club" properties (a/k/a Time Shares) that exist around Walt Disney World.

They just keep popping up, and in my humble opinion ruin the aesthetics of the property on which they are built.  And as we saw during the pandemic, Disney has to make them available, regardless of extenuating circumstances, to comply with the contract language.

Anyway, pre-pandemic, Disney announced that they were removing the long-abandoned River Country water park, and were replacing it with another DVC property (between the Wilderness Lodge and Fort Wilderness). The project was halted during the pandemic, but about a week ago, Disney made an announcement that it was back under construction and it has a preview and opening date planned.

That's not particularly good news for those of us who appreciate Disney's history, and how land was used, but sadly there isn't much we can do about it.

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Bonus: I had mentioned in a previous newsletter that the DOJ decided not to pursue further action against Ticketmaster.  But, it turns out that 30 states (including a fair number of conservative ones) continued their joint effort to take on the monopoly.  

And a week or so ago, they won a significant portion of their case.  At this point, its unclear what this will mean, and how it will change the landscape of tickets to events, but it is at least a bit of positive news.


Bitchin' Dave's newsletter is published weekly.  Please feel free to forward it around. If you want to subscribe or unsubscribe, send an email to geezergamer92@gmail.com

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