Weekend Digest: The flying cars, white voters, rare colors and deep space clocks edition

by Larry Brannan ([email protected]) 146 views 

TV PREVIEW
On this week’s TV edition of Talk Business & Politics, which airs Sundays at 9:30 a.m. on KATV Channel 7 in Central Arkansas and in Northeast Arkansas on KAIT-NBC, Sundays at 10 a.m.:

Historic Week
U.S. Rep. Steve Womack, R-Rogers. His thoughts on the state of the Presidential race between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. Also, is he supportive of Gov. Asa Hutchinson’s tax cut strategy that involves federal action? We’ll find out.

Making Changes
New DHS director Cindy Gillespie. She’s making major changes at the state’s largest agency. How will her recommendations improve the delivery of services and save money?

Hot Home Sales
Plus, it’s a good time to be a Realtor. The pace of home sales in Arkansas’ four large metro markets continues to rise. What’s driving the market?

Tune in to Talk Business & Politics in Central Arkansas on KATV Channel 7, Sundays at 9:30 a.m. and in Northeast Arkansas on KAIT-NBC, Sundays at 10 a.m.

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN SALARIED EMPLOYEES BECOME HOURLY
Entrepreneur says, “The Department of Labor finally released its long-awaited overtime rule, and it’s likely to send a ripple of changes through workplaces between now and December – when employers must begin to comply.”

Here’s how the new overtime rules will affect entrepreneurs.

FLYING CAR COMPANIES, AND SELF-DRIVING TECH
Tech Crunch posts, “The most dangerous part of the car generally sits in the driver’s seat. And that’s doubly true if the car is a flying car.”

A “flying car!”

The notion of such aerial vehicles has always fascinated, but the pesky need to pilot the things has generally grounded it – as if the engineering and legal challenges weren’t enough already. But autonomous driving technology may be the missing piece that leads us to the place where, yes, we won’t need roads.

Learn more by following this link.

ARE YOU A MIDDLE CLASS FAMILY TODAY?
A lot of us are.  So “what does it feel like?” asks Marketplace.

The middle class is the most talked about group in the 2016 presidential election. But who are they?

Find out at this link.

THE Q-TIP
A “small wonder of design” says CBS News. “How about a bouquet of … Q-Tips?”

It’s evidence, to Q-Tip marketing director Suzanne Palentchar, of the genius behind this everyday product.

“I think people do take it for granted,” she says. “But that’s okay. I don’t need them to think about it as an engineering feat.”

Get more at this link.

WHO DID THE PRESIDENT ENDORSE?
Well HuffPost Politics says … it’s Hillary.

“I don’t think there’s ever been someone so qualified to hold this office,” the president said in an endorsement video released Thursday.

Read the full post here.

ARE WHITE VOTERS GOOD NEWS FOR TRUMP?
Yes, of course, reports The New York Times, and it says, There are more white voters than people think.”

That’s good news for Trump.

As Joe Scarborough of MSNBC put it, “There are not enough white voters in America for Donald Trump to win while getting routed among minorities.”

But a growing body of evidence suggests that there is still a path, albeit a narrow one, for Mr. Trump to win without gains among nonwhite voters.

Follow this link for the full post.

WHY POLITICAL PARTIES NEVER DIE
“Pundits love to predict the parties are going extinct. They’re almost always wrong,” writes POLITICO Magazine.

Today the question is back with a vengeance. Donald Trump has split the GOP in ways we haven’t seen in a lifetime, with top conservatives alienated from the populist base and some Republican candidates now openly repudiating their own nominee. On the Democratic side, the Sanders campaign has revved up a leftist contingent that vows to actively fight to keep Hillary Clinton out of the White House. Could this be a woolly mammoth moment for either or both of the parties?

What do you think? Go to this link for some answers.

GUN RIGHTS MOVEMENT DELIVERED A SETBACK
“The gun rights movement was delivered a setback Thursday when an appeals court based out of San Francisco said there was no Second Amendment right for a member of the public to carry a concealed weapon in a decision upholding a California firearm restriction,” says Talking Points Memo.

“As the uncontradicted historical evidence overwhelmingly shows, the Second Amendment does not protect, in any degree, the right of a member of the general public to carry a concealed weapon in public,” the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit said in its opinion. In a 7-4 vote, it upheld the previous ruling of a three-judge panel of the appeals court, which had been appealed to the full court.

The Second Amendment may or may not protect to some degree a right of a member of the general public to carry a firearm in public. If there is such a right, it is only a right to carry a firearm openly,” the opinion said. “But Plaintiffs do not challenge California’s restrictions on open carry; they challenge only restrictions on concealed carry.”

More on this hot topic here.

MUHAMMAD ALI’S LIFE IN PHOTOS
“Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee.”

He was the greatest of all time, and Time has posted “his time in the ring to his more playful side.”

The Ali images can be found here.

THE HARVARD LIBRARY THAT PROTECTS THE WORLD’S RAREST COLORS
Fast Company posts, “The most unusual colors from Harvard’s storied pigment library include beetle extracts, poisonous metals, and human mummies.”

Hmmmm. Wait, a second. Someone has a “pigment” library? Okay…

A lot has changed in the art world since painters worked with “colormen” – as tradesmen in dyes and pigments were known – to obtain their medium. The commercialization of paints has transformed that process. Artists today will use anything to get the idea that’s in their head into a physical form.

Well, find out why at this link.

THE CLOCK WE NEED FOR DEEP SPACE TRAVEL
You know there are so many links we love here at Weekend Digest, but for far-thinking and intriguing thought, this might be our fav.

Real Clear Science posts more on “The Clock We Need for Deep Space Travel.”

Tick-Tock and “travel” to this spot for more.