Bitchin Dave's Newsletter - September 15th
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The mid-term election may still be more than a month away, but "the machine" is in full swing. What I find strange, though, is that all of the things I see are from one point of view. Yeah, I pretty much only see "stuff" from the MAGA-aligned groups and candidates.
I have to say that this election "feels different" than previous ones. I don't know what to make of it, exactly.
But I have ro ask *why* so many of these ads are appearing that are essentially hating on on an opponent (to an extreme), distorting the truth, and fear mongering. Is it a way to keep the cult engaged?
And then there's the matter of the FCC not allowing for a democratic candidate to be interviewed on network television, while allowing his opponent - the republican incumbent - to go on unfettered and say whatever he wanted.
Of course, you also have T-rump offering $5,000 to every adult if his party retains the house. I mean, he's promised money to Americans several times, and reneged every time. Why should this be any different? (Setting aside that this is illegal!) And let's not forget that it's not up to him; congress must approve it and appropriate the funds. And if you do the math, this would be nearly a TRILLION dollars removed from the treasury. Meaning we move further into a deficit. Couldn't that money be used for some other good? And isn't the party (and him) *against* welfare? I mean that's what this is, isn't it?
Sigh. Here's to hoping people have indeed already made up their minds, and this election swings the pendulum back a little.
But don't rest on that! Remind people you know to check on their voting status and to make a plan to actually vote.
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Walt Disney's personal plane had been on display on the backlot tour at the Disney MGM tours for many years. And then, they closed the tour and moved the plane into a backstage area … where it’s been rotting in the sun ever since.
And now, it’s been restored and will return to public display.
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Back in 1982, we sent 14 bees on a space mission. Astronauts observed the bees and noticed that they had trouble flying and “finding their way” likely due to the lack of gravity and directional indicators like north. But we learned something, even though that group of bees died when they returned to earth.
Two years later, a college student designed another experiment with a group of 3,300 honeybees that went up on a shuttle mission. They, too, struggled for a bit, but they managed to orient themselves and got to the task of building a honeycomb - successfully. The overall takeaway was that they had a similar sort of lifecycle to what bees on earth had. The queen even laid eggs, though they didn’t hatch. But the bees did make it back to earth and were returned to the farm from which they came.
Sadly, not much more was done with this information - but we know that bees can survive away from earth and could be effective pollinators and can produce honey.
Those are things that are useful to us in the future
Summary here:
Short video of the 1984 mission here:
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While I am encouraged by this news, I find it odd that it hasn’t gotten much attention.
Even the organization that’s said to be using her story for national awareness isn’t quite doing that.
The drug company isn’t saying that they have a cure, but have encouraging results in early trials, with repeated treatments. Here’s a doctor summing it up:
Again, it’s a cautious note to look beyond the headline and understand the nature of the story itself.
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This story is about the climate event called el niño. It is an area in the pacific that has a direct effect on the global weather. Understanding it is an important part of planning for the weather. It delves into some of the science behind what it tells us - and the reality is that our weather will be “worse” this year.
But there’s a little subtext. While the US lags behind in climate science, the rest of the world is picking up the slack.
The article is behind a paywall, but you can read it here.
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Here’s a student who wanted to know more about CO2 emissions. Was there a higher concentration at different altitudes? Was it different in rural versus urban settings?
So he used a drone and a raspberry pi fitted with a detector to find out.
I won’t spoil the results, but will tell you he learned something along the way.
Curiosity and a little effort made for an interesting experiment that was well thought out and he did a good job of conducting it.
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A student saw an opportunity to go beyond recycling. She invested $2,500 to find an environmentally friendly enzyme that can break down PET plastics.
Her success won her the 2026 eco grand prize, which included some money to continue to invest into other compounds and expand her work.
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Bonus: Suck it, people who hated the Superbowl halftime show; it won an Emmy!
It was a beautiful, and heartfelt performance by an American citizen by birth … who speaks Spanish as his first language.
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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