Robin Net

Without him, I am not sure I am a Braves fan today.

Ted Turner

Happy Earth Day everyone.

“Consider again that dot. That’s here. That’s home. That’s us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives.” - Carl Sagan

At 7:07 pm, Central Standard Time, for Mission Control in Houston, Texas, the four member crew of the Integrity space capsule of the Artemis 2 mission, splashed down in the Pacific Ocean. Completing their ten day mission to a single orbit of the Moon and back home.

During this mission, only the second of NASA’s newest manned rocket Space Launch System (SLS), and the crew capsule’s known as Orion, the crew, Commander Reid Wiseman, Pilot Victor Glover, Mission Specialist Christina Koch, and Mission Specialist Jeremy Hansen, had to perform many particular tests of both themselves, the SLS, and the Orion capsule. The mission was a complete success save for a few minor hiccups, thank you Microsoft for still not having Outlook functioning properly and I guess there is still a little work to be done the crew toilet.

The images this crew were able to capture as they flew away from Earth, circled the Moon around her dark side, and then as they returned are simple breathtaking and my words cannot do them justice. Please visit NASA’s Artemis II Lunar Flyby and take a look for your self.

Since childhood I have always been a fan of NASA and all of the important work that program has done over the decades. It’s been a rough few years getting back to this level of activity and mission importance and I am so happy for this win. As amazing as this mission was, we are reminded, that it was only the second mission of many still to come. Up next for Artemis is a more through test of the Orion capsule and maneuvering for docking with the lunar landing system. Then after that an Artemis mission to put humans back on the surface of the Moon for the first time since Apollo 17 in 1972.

There is a wonderful YouTube video summary of the entire Artemis 2 mission from launch through recovery posted by the team at The Space Race, I really encourage you to check it out. What Exactly Happened on Artemis 2

Regards, Darren
darren.robinette@me.com

Today, NASA is launching (if weather holds) the Artemis 2 mission. This one will take 4 Astronauts for a lap around the Moon and back. When they complete that lap, they will have traveled farther away from Earth than any human has ever gone. I have always been a fan of NASA and am hopeful for a successful mission. I believe that space exploration needs to NOT be solely in the private sector and certainly NOT in the hands of Elon Musk. We could use a little hope and pride right about now for an agency that could use it.

God speed Artemis.

Congratulations to Venezuela! What a well deserved win for their first Championship.

Felicitaciones

So, I will give you a summary but please go read the article yourself. Meta (Facebook) has been selling through their partnership with RayBan, a pair of AR glasses. These glasses watch the world around you while you are wearing them and listen to verbal commands you give it to give you more information about what you are looking at, to take a picture, to remember names, etc. Meta claims that the glasses are secure and that privacy measures are in place. Except they really are not.

Meta is facing a new lawsuit over its AI smart glasses and their lack of privacy, after an investigation by Swedish newspapers found that workers at a Kenya-based subcontractor are reviewing footage from customers’ glasses, which included sensitive content, like nudity, people having sex, and using the toilet.

Wow, just amazing. I mean it’s like you cant trust Zuckerberg at all.

Meta sued over AI smart glasses’ privacy concerns, after workers reviewed nudity, sex, and other footage

Regards, Darren
darren.robinette@me.com

In 1993 I graduated from The Art Institute of Atlanta with an Associate in Arts Photography degree. Soon after I was employed by my hometown newspaper the Tallahassee Democrat as a staff Photographer. I learned so much during my time there and I still miss going to the basement to watch the presses. While there I had many tasks and one of them involved working up composite thumbnails of my rolls (yes… actual film rolls) after I developed them (yes… with actual chemicals). The software we used for this was Aldus Corporation’s PageMaker.

PageMaker was developed by Paul Brainerd and his software was the dawn of what became Desktop Publishing. After many years of success, Paul sold Aldus to a then fledgling company called Adobe and PageMaker eventually became InDesign, which I use on a daily basis at my current employment as a Graphics Manager for a printing company.

Paul Brainard recently passed way and until I read about this, I admittedly did not know much about him as a person. After selling to Adobe, he went on to many philanthropic enterprises. I encourage you to read his bio here at the History Link

Regards, Darren
darren.robinette@me.com

The Seattle Seahawks won Super Bowl 60 and a bit of redemption against the New England Patriots. There are a lot of videos and articles about this team but something that stuck out that I was noticing early on as a fan. The players and coaches to a person every time they were interviewed would talk about how close they all were to each other, how encouraging they all were for each other and how much they want to play with and for each other. I noticed it to.

In week 11, Seattle QB Sam Darnold threw 4 interceptions against the LA Rams and lost the game 19 to 21. In the post game press conference, someone in the media asked linebacker Ernest Jones if he thought Sam Darnold was the right player to lead this team. Ernest got offended and said

If we want to try to define Sam by this game, man, Sam’s had us in every f—— game. So for him to sit there and say, ‘Oh, that’s my fault,’ no, it’s not. There were plays that defensively we could have made, there were opportunities where we could have got better stops. It’s football, man. He’s our quarterback, we’ve got his back, and if you’ve got anything to say, quite frankly, f— you.

After that quote the team went undefeated the rest of the season, playoffs, and Super Bowl. And they had to do it in the toughest division this year. Here is a crazy stat showing how hard this was. Since seeding began in 1975, a No. 1 seed has won the Super Bowl 27 times. Only one of those No. 1 seeds had to beat three 12-win teams during that playoff run: the 2025 Seattle Seahawks.

I am very proud to be a member of the 12’s.
Go Seahawks!

I am such a fan of The Muppet Show and pretty much anything Jim Henson. The kid in me was so glad that Disney, with Seth Rogan as Executive Producer, decided to do a reboot. The first episode is out now for streaming and the guest star is Sabrina Carpenter. The musical number of Dolly Parton’s and Kenny Rogers “Islands in the Stream” performed by Sabrina, Kermit and then Miss Piggy was outstanding.

So funny. You can check out the clip Here and the full episode is available from Disney+ Here

A columnist for Macworld recently posted about the problems that those of us who use and are fans of Apple products. I particularly identify with the following quote

We are experiencing a period of great angst in the Apple community, and most of it is the result of Tim Cook’s leadership. Cook has done a tremendous job over the years, building on Apple’s success and taking the company to new heights. For years, the Macalope skewered pundits who suggested Cook was a failure for not delivering a product as successful as the iPhone, as if it were reasonable to suggest he deliver another once-in-a-lifetime product. Cook’s tenure has been one of mature, stable stewardship, and over the more than decade and a half he’s led the company, Apple continued to ship hits like the Apple Watch and AirPods.

But Apple has burned through a lot of goodwill with its biggest fans because of the company Cook has been keeping, its maniacal grip on the App Store (but it magically loosens for Elon Musk), some recent design choices (cough–Liquid Glass–cough–horrible icons–cough), and an inability to ship enhanced Siri. People who used to be counted as largely friendly to the company are having less of a good time being in its corner these days.

I am hopeful things change for the better. You can check out the full article here at Macworld

Regards, Darren
darren.robinette@me.com

See a much older Post about why I root for them but congratulations to my Seattle Seahawks for making it to Super Bowl 60.
It was an exciting run to finish off the regular season and then make it through the playoffs.\

Regards, Darren
darren.robinette@me.com

My January Apple Watch fitness challenge is going to be, well….. a challenge. #sore

So my blog here has basically been an afterthought for me for over a month now. I have decided not to bother trying to do some sort of explanation and “catch you up” post, just suffice to say other things in my life have just been more important. I found myself self-editing a lot last year, I would think of something to write, could be short could be long and then for whatever reason I would just tell myself it’s not important enough to bother. I am going to make the effort to not do that any more.

So there.

I will share that for 2025, I did increase my time reading for enjoyment and managed to read the following…

Pepper & Carrot (Graphic Novel Anthology 1–30) by David Revoy & Antonio Parisi
Daredevil Vol 1 (Comic Book) by Mark Waid
After the Funeral (Novel) by Agatha Christie
Red Rising (Novel) by Pierce Brown
Firefly #7 through #9 (Comic Book) by Greg Pak
Shit My Dad Says (Audio Book) by Justin Halpern
Painless (Novel) by Derek Ciccone
Project Hail Mary (Novel) by Andy Weir
OMG… that book was amazing and I can’t wait for the movie.
The Adventures of Mary Darling (Novel) by Pat Murphy

I mostly use the Apple Books app on my iPad Mini for my reading. This device may be my most favorite Apple purchase, just because of how much I enjoy using it for so many enjoyable things.

Lastly, I am also going to try and start ending my posts with a sort of signature line that includes an email.
If you are so inclined, drop me a quick note and let me know if something interested you, or if there is a question, or maybe just to say hello.

Regards, Darren
darren.robinette@me.com

I follow accounts and websites for a fair amount of artists and one of my favorite is Matthew Inman of The Oatmeal. I have had opinions and thoughts about the ongoing onslaught of AI generated art but Matthew has hit the most grandest of home runs with this take… I am still nodding my head and giggling. Let’s Talk About AI Art

I follow accounts and websites for a fair amount of artists and one of my favorite is Matthew Inman of The Oatmeal. I have had opinions and thoughts about the ongoing onslaught of AI generated art but Matthew has hit the most grandest of home runs with this take… I am still nodding my head and giggling. Let’s Talk About AI Art