July 30th, 2026:
- Here’s an easy read about Boom Supersonic’s project to create a supersonic airliner capable of cruising at Mach 1.7 without a significant sonic boom reaching the surface beneath the aircraft. Their target is to deliver aircraft by 2029, though skeptics think that’s overly ambitious because Boom is designing a supersonic-capable engine from scratch. The engine will also be marketed as part of a power-generation system for AI data centers.
- There’s a new ATSC (Advanced Television Systems Committee) standard, ATSC 3.0, which will improve TV image quality, it also includes technology to allow DRM on broadcast TV, encrypting “over the air” signals and turning broadcast TV into yet another form of pay TV. You’d have to buy a new “NextGen” TV to watch ATSC 3.0 content. TV isn’t my thing, but I predict a great deal of bitching and moaning against this possibility. Stay tuned, heh.
- According to recent research, working crossword puzzles for two minutes a day can slow brain aging dramatically. Actually, anything that requires cognitive activity can slow brain aging. One reason I tinker with programming (for me, in Free Pascal/Lazarus) is to keep my mind working. I do a couple of word puzzles on my tablet here and there. Maybe I should do more. What I don’t do is sit in front of the TV all day. Or on most days, even for two minutes.
- The US House has passed a bill making Daylight Savings Time permanent. Umm…didn’t we try this already? We did. Nobody liked it, and it didn’t last long. My response is that we should make standard time permanent, which wouldn’t push dawn to an hour later and force people to start the day in darkness. Yeah, back in Chicago in late December it used to get dark by 5 PM. The kids were home from school by then, and cars for commuters have headlights. Arizona is on standard time all year, and it works fine for me.
- Private collectors are outbidding museums for fossils—right up to Gus, one of the largest and most complete T-Rex fossils ever found. Sotheby’s is selling dino bones to the very rich, some of them earning in excess of $30M. It may gall some people, but even I know that leaving fossils in the ground — especially if they’re exposed to the elements—can cause serious deterioration. One wonders what a billionaire would do with a T-Rex skeleton. In the rec room? Office? Maybe we’ll find out.
- Astronomers have found a species of sugar scattered out in the gas and dust in our galaxy. Sweet!
