#natspark — Public Fediverse posts

Weekly output: Google features for Samsung’s new foldables, wireless-network assessments, the Nats’ zombie cryptocurrency sponsorship, Waymo safety, Starship flight 13

Mowing the lawn Saturday reminded me that my yard is once again starting to look its worst, between the heat and occasional dry stretches and weeds starting to get away from me. But when it’s that hot outside (the last few days being a blessed exception), my interest in doing yardwork also nears a seasonal low.

7/22/2026: Google Tips More Full-Fledged Gemini Intelligence for Samsung’s New Foldables, PCMag

My small part of PCMag’s coverage of Samsung’s Unpacked product event was covering Google’s announcement of some new Android features for the Korean tech giant’s latest foldable phones.

7/22/2026: Which US Wireless Carrier Is Best? 3 Recent Reports Crown Different Winners, PCMag

I had missed a chance to cover RootMetrics’ latest report a week and a half ago, but having two other wireless-network assessments drop Wednesday morning allowed me to write up all three and explain how different testing methodologies can yield different results.

7/23/2026: The Washington Nationals Are Stuck With a Zombie Crypto Sponsorship, Washingtonian

A little more than 14 years after my first piece in my city’s glossy mag, I sold a second piece to the publication. This one allowed me to tap into my interest in two otherwise-unrelated items: the fan experience at Nationals Park and cryptocurrency-startup meltdowns.

7/24/2026: How Safe Is Your Waymo? Report Finds They Crash 68% Less Than Human Drivers, PCMag

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety is an independent, respected observer of auto safety in the U.S., so its report of Waymo crash rates was well worth reading–both for the observations the study authors could draw from the data available and those that they could not.

7/24/2026: Starship’s 13th Test Flight Ends With a Lucky Splashdown, PCMag

Dinner was late Friday on account of my watching Starship’s launch, brief suborbital journey and then improbable survival of a soft landing in the Indian Ocean. From the test milestones achieved on this launch, it looks like SpaceX should be able to put Starship into orbit on its next test flight–which would be close to three and a half years after this giant rocket’s first launch.

This rite of a Washington spring is now 20 years old

Thursday was not like any other day this week–but it did fit into a pattern that set in starting in 2005. Meaning, I once again had no other choice but to take off work to go to the Washington Nationals’ home opener.

My first 15 years of life in and around the District did not include that rite of spring, because major-league baseball (as opposed to intern softball on the Mall) was an other-cities proposition. But I cleared my afternoon for the Nats’ home opener at RFK that April, and the experience was epically worth the work avoidance.

My wife and I have stayed in the same 20-game partial-season-ticket group ever since, so almost every March or April has treated us to this seasonal event.

Parts of it have changed immensely–especially with the team’s move from RFK and the peeling paint inside that concrete donut to Nats Park in 2008.

Where RFK had no neighborhood bars and restaurants for pregame and postgame enjoyment, the blocks north of Nats Park have filled in with residential, office and hotel buildings. To the south, D.C. has replaced the ugly metal hulk of the former Frederick Douglass Memorial Bridge with the soaring arches of its successor over the Anacostia. And to the west, Audi Field hosts the other beautiful game as played by D.C. United and the Washington Spirit.

The neighborhood has overall improved so much since I was reviewing the occasional concert at the Capital Ballroom almost 30 years ago, and I love that.

Inside and just outside Nats Park, some traditions have held while others have flown in the breeze like the World Series championship flag that has graced our ballpark since 2019.

On one hand, hearing the aptly-named D.C. Washington sing the national anthem every year is a treat that fans of no other MLB franchise get. And no other team gets flyovers of F-16s from Joint Base Andrews.

On the other hand, I thought in 2005 that presidents throwing out a ceremonial first pitch would be a regular feature for Nats home openers. But after George W. Bush’s high strike in 2005 and Barack Obama’s comparable throw in 2010, other people have done the honors.

(Thursday featured Washington Post sports columnist Thomas Boswell, who has more than earned that recognition on his way to Cooperstown.)

I get that Joe Biden and Donald Trump don’t have the arms to keep the ball out of the dirt–and that Trump’s fragile ego couldn’t stand being booed by Nats fans who rightly disapprove of his authoritarian garbage–but we do need to bring that tradition back.

And, yes, the Nats have been wildly uneven in their home openers. Thursday was no exception, even between innings: MacKenzie Gore struck out 13 and allowed only one hit and zero walks in six innings, but then the Nats squandered that standout start to lose 7-3 to the Phillies.

That’s not a great beginning of the season. But I will, of course, be in the stands on Sunday.

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