From Camping to Formula 1

Yo. Welcome to Week 6.

A Car: The W14

With Season 5 of Drive to Survive kicking off this week (oh yea, and testing), the 2023 F1 season is gearing up to be a good one. After all of the cars have been revealed now, theres an obvious winner.

I’m not saying the other cars look bad. Some are just a copy of last year (RB, Aston Martin, Ferrari, Alpine), some are significantly worse (Alpha Romeo, McLaren), some even got better (Alpha Tauri, Williams) but the Mercedes W14 is in a league of its own.

They’re back in black, teal stripe down the sides, and still no sidepods. Its a real stunner. Lets hope it doesn’t bounce this year though and we can see them on the top step of the podium a bit more often.

Movie of the week: All Quiet on the Western Front

Sheesh. What a movie. Stunning visuals, hard hitting moments.. this movie really covers all things trench warfare.

If you haven’t seen it yet, its definitely worth the watch albeit with the warning that it doesn’t hold back from being gruesome. Makes sense that its nominated for a lot of Oscars and other awards, and the score in it is really incredible as well. Definitely not for the feint of heart, but an awesome movie.

A YouTube Channel: Floberg Runs

Eric Floberg is a photographer and filmmaker who makes YouTube videos on the side. He only has 7.3k subscribers, and posts videos primarily about him running.

I love it though. As an amateur runner myself (nowhere near as fast as him), this type of content is incredibly engaging and fun to watch.

On top of that, Eric makes incredibly high quality videos. Not only are they filmed well, color graded perfectly, and have great sound quality, but he’s just a really good story teller as well.

Maybe I’m just a running nerd, but you should check him out. I think these videos are highly underrated.

Black Holes: Origin of Dark Energy and the Expansion of the Universe?

Ok. I’ll be honest, this one didn’t make much sense to me either at first. The title caught my eye, so I dug in further. I’ll try to explain here quickly.

What is dark energy?

• Scientists observed that not only is the universe expanding, but the rate of expansion is accelerating.

• Starting with the Big Bang, general relativity says that the rate of expansion should slow down over time, unless there is a new form of energy (that we haven’t observed).

• Hence, dark energy. Current measurements show that dark energy makes up ~68% of the observable universe. Yup, thats a lot.

The origins of dark energy are still a mystery, though this newly published paper proposes that black holes are the origin of this dark energy, giving explanation and a rate for the expansion of the universe.

“We thus propose that stellar remnant black holes are the astrophysical origin of dark energy, explaining the onset of accelerating expansion at z ~0.7.”

A Place: Bishop, CA

I have a love hate relationship with California (and especially with LA). Suburbia goes on for ages and can be quite.. boring. The beach is far away. Its so hard to get.. anywhere. No public transportation. Etc, etc.

But there are so many hidden gems. In LA alone you can go surf on the beach the same day you go ski at 10,000 feet. All within an hour of where I live.

And in California alone there are stunning natural places. Yosemite, Joshua Tree, Sequoia, the Sierras, Redwoods, Tahoe, Shasta, Catalina, the list goes on. Exploring these places take ages, but in each one there are hidden gems. Desert, oceans, forests, lakes, theres just about anything you could ask for.

This past weekend I found a new spot: Bishop, CA.

From sub freezing temperatures at night, to feet of snow, to steaming hot springs, Bishop (and the Eastern Sierras in general) really is stunning. Though its home to and crowded with skiers from all sides of California, its definitely worth the stop.