The Daily Valet. - 10/18/19, Friday
✔️ Space Suits and Satellites for Everyone
Friday, October 18th Edition
I definitely need a Salty Dog at the end of this week. You?
Cory Ohlendorf , Editor ⋯ @coryohlendorf
Today's edition is presented by
Today’s Big Story
It Was a Big Week for Space
Space suits and satellites for everyone!
Elon Musk's SpaceX just filed documents with telecommunications authorities that show it has plans to launch 30,000 small satellites into space. That is roughly triple the number launched by humans in history so far. And the company already has 12,000 up there. The satellites are used to create a wireless internet service called Starlink. The aim of this is to blanket Earth in a mesh of high-speed, low-latency and affordable internet access.
In other intergalactic entrepreneurial news, Virgin Galactic unveiled its space suits (above), designed by Under Armour—the result of a years-long friendship between Sir Richard Branson and UA CEO Kevin Plank. The suits consists of a base layer, outersuit and boots. According to Uncrate, the high-tech base layer is "designed to regulate temperature, moisture, and blood flow, while the spacesuit has a push-to-talk button, multiple pockets and body-forming material in the elbows and knees."
If you can believe it, these weren't the only space suits debuted this week. NASA unveiled its designs for future spacesuits that astronauts will wear during trips to the moon. They come with modular components across the chest and waist that can be cinched or expanded to fit both men and women comfortably. And while the red, white, and-blue suits are still in development, NASA claims they’ll be ready to keep astronauts alive in space by 2024—the agency’s deadline to return humans to the lunar surface.
But about that deadline ... Rep. José Serrano, chairman of the House subcommittee that appropriates funds for NASA, suggested pushing that back to 2028. He cited expert estimates that the moon plans could cost taxpayers $25 billion over the next five years and that it's hard to justify such a high price at this time. He also questioned the rationale behind rushing the landing, which was originally scheduled for 2028.
We'll see what happens. But I gotta say, there's something so hopeful about space, isn't there? It's full of possibility. In the meantime, I'll just be over here, lusting after an Omega Speedmaster, the astronaut's choice of timepiece that still does something for me.
Turkey Agrees to a Cease-Fire
They just don’t want to call it a “cease-fire”
After negotiating with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Vice President Mike Pence said Turkey will pause its military operations in northern Syria for 120 hours while the US facilitates the withdrawal of Syrian Kurds from safe zone areas. Pence added that once that's complete, Turkey has agreed to a permanent cease-fire. But just moments after that announcement, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said it was not a ceasefire and Turkey "will only stop the operation if our conditions are met.” As part of the deal, the US has agreed to withdraw its sanctions imposed on Turkey earlier this week.
Not everyone praised the deal. Richard Engel, NBC's chief foreign correspondent said, "The Kurds lost their homeland in Syria, which they fought for with US forces in the battle against ISIS, losing 11,000 of their men and women." And it's still unclear just how involved our troops will be in "facilitating." As Pence was speaking in Turkey, American troops were boarding aircraft leaving northern Syria. Officials said a couple of hundred had already departed, with hundreds more consolidated at a few bases waiting to move out.
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Louis Vuitton Opened a Workshop in Texas
Unfortunately, it’s not in Paris, Texas
Yesterday, the French luxury label opened a 100,000-square-foot leather workshop called the Louis Vuitton Rochambeau Ranch. Located in Keene, a small town near Dallas, the factory will create about 1,000 jobs over the next five years; currently, the workshop has 150 employees.
The facility will train workers on leather-goods craftsmanship, certainly something Vuitton knows a thing or two about. According to The Cut, the brand has two workshops in California as well, so this is not the first American production outpost. The bags will carry “Made in the USA” labels, but the leather will be processed elsewhere and won’t be made from Texan cattle.
According to a statement from the company, LV is expanding to Texas to "meet the ever-growing demand for Louis Vuitton products in the American market." The opening makes good on a Trump Administration initiative to create more US manufacturing jobs that was signed by the luxury conglomerate (along with such brands as Rolex and Volvo). Which is why Trump flew down to Texas, with daughter Ivanka in tow, to celebrate the opening with LVMH CEO Bernard Arnault.
↦ FYI: The ranch is named after a French general who aided the colonies in the American Revolution.
A Huge Leonardo da Vinci Retrospective Is Coming to the Louvre
It will include the world’s most expensive painting
The Louvre is set to launch a monumental retrospective on Leonardo da Vinci next week to celebrate the 500th anniversary of the Renaissance master's death. The “unprecedented” retrospective will showcase more than a decade of artworks from the artist’s career, making it one of the most extensive da Vinci exhibits ever at the home of his most famous painting.
But until a few days ago, da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man—his iconic study of human proportions—wasn't allowed to be shown. Rarely displayed and thought to be too “precious and fragile” to leave Italy, a two-year diplomatic battle ended on Wednesday when the denial was overturned, reports ArtNews. Also included in the show is Salvator Mundi—the world’s most expensive painting, bought for a staggering $450.3 million at auction in a 2017.
But if you want to go see this show, you've got to get special tickets. According to Afar, the reservations are dubbed “entry hours” on the Louvre’s website and you have to choose a 30-minute interval between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m during the exhibition’s four-month run.
Other Things We’re Talking About Today
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Weekend Pairing
The Lighthouse + a Salty Dog
It's the art house films that actually get me to go to the movie theater these days. And The Lighthouse is definitely one of those films. From visionary filmmaker, Robert Eggers, and the hit-making studio, A24, this hypnotic and hallucinatory movie tells the story of two lighthouse keepers (William Dafoe and Robert Pattinson) on a remote New England island in the 1890s. Will it be weird? Definitely. But am I definitely intrigued to see it? Oh hell yeah.
Stick in the seafaring mood by mixing up a Salty Dog cocktail. The classic citrus tipple isn't exactly something an old lighthouse keeper would pour himself, but it's still damn tasty. It's basically refreshing grapefruit juice doctored up with gin and a little salt—what's not to love? And it does have some chops. The cocktail is believed to have been created around 1950 by the same bartender from New York's King Cole bar who invented the Bloody Mary.
↦ Watch It: Showing in theaters now.
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Morning Motto
Nobody said making it to the top would be easy.
↦ Follow: @cushandwizdom
That’s all for today...
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