Things To Do In SW Florida

SpaceX notched another Starlink launch on its rocketry belt from Cape Canaveral on Friday night.

A Falcon 9 rocket on the Starlink 6-14 mission carrying up 22 of the internet satellites blasted off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 11:12 p.m. It’s the first of two launches from the Space Coast that could fly within 10 hours with a United Launch Alliance Atlas V mission planned from a neighboring launch complex on Saturday morning.

Liftoff! pic.twitter.com/bxVowIiW7p

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) September 9, 2023

The first-stage booster made its seventh flight with a recovery landing on the droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas downrange in the Atlantic.

This marks the 47th launch from the Space Coast for the year with all but two coming from SpaceX.

Falcon 9’s first stage has landed on the A Shortfall of Gravitas droneship pic.twitter.com/aNWmflqvNi

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) September 9, 2023

The 48th is slated to come from ULA, which last flew in June, with only its second launch of the year lined up for Saturday morning from Canaveral’s SLC 41. read more

The Sunshine State is finally realizing its solar-energy generation potential.

Florida topped all other U.S. states for solar energy installations during the first half of 2023 and is on track to upend California and Texas, the top solar installers of 2021 and 2022, for solar energy capacity increase in 2023.

The new figures were reported in the latest Solar Market Insight report released Thursday by energy analytics firm Wood Mackenzie and the Solar Energy Industries Association.

The report shows that Florida added 2,499 megawatts of solar-generation capacity during the first half of the year, far surpassing the 1,648 MW added by California and the 1,292 MW added by Texas.

Florida’s increase for the first six months exceeded the amount of solar capacity ever installed in the state during an entire year, an SEIA news release stated.

It contributes to a record 32 gigawatts — a gigawatt is equal to 1,000 megawatts — of new solar capacity projected for the United States in 2023. That’s a 52% increase over 2022 and a single-year record for the nation, according to the release. read more

During the first week of Universal’s Halloween Horror Nights, we learned a lot about the creatures and stories involved in the 2023 houses and zones. We met blues musician Pinestraw Spruce, encountered Vecna of “Stranger Things” fame plus yeti out the wazoo and even were reunited with a couple of Dueling Dragons.

Still, there were lingering, burning HHN questions, which Lora Sauls, assistant director of creative development and show direction, agreed to field. We chatted about the age of Dr. Oddfellow, the marching Megans and the whereabouts of Carey, Ohio, which in real life is Sauls’ hometown.

Question: Are adjustments made after the first weekend of HHN?

Answer: Halloween Horror Nights is an ever-evolving, live event. … We want to make it perfect for our guests, so after that first weekend, we listen to what our guests are loving, we’re seeing what our guests just want more of and we’re trying to make sure we’re doing the best and putting the best out there for our guests. So what I can say is Halloween Horror Nights is a living and breathing event. And there are always ways that we can better our scares for our guests. read more

By Sally French | NerdWallet

U.S. airlines aren’t required to compensate passengers for flight delays. Refunds are only guaranteed for entirely canceled flights (assuming the passenger opts not to be rebooked by the airline). There’s also no legal requirement for airlines to offer additional flight delay compensation.

That said, most U.S. airlines have pledged to provide additional services or amenities to customers affected by disrupted flights, as documented in the U.S. Department of Transportation’s customer service dashboard. But those pledged amenities can be semi-stingy. While every major U.S. airline offers meal vouchers for delays of three hours or more, only Alaska Airlines promises frequent flyer miles.

I’ve had two flight mishaps this year — yet both times I got compensation above what the U.S. government requires, and greater than what the airlines pledged.

Here’s the script I used to get travel vouchers, bonus miles and a free meal.

Southwest delayed flight compensation: a meal voucher and travel credit

The first delay I experienced this year happened as I traveled from Oakland, Calif., to St. Louis on a Southwest Airlines flight that entailed a layover in Denver. read more

By The Associated Press

Apple released a significant security update for iPhones and iPads Thursday to patch newly discovered security vulnerabilities in the devices’ system software.

The issue was discovered by researchers at the University of Toronto’s Citizen Lab, who said the software flaw was being “actively exploited” to deliver commercial spyware called Pegasus developed and sold by the Israeli company NSO Group.

Pegasus is an expensive tool typically used to target dissidents, journalists and political opponents, so ordinary users likely have little to fear. Still, Citizen Lab recommends that all users should “immediately” update their devices.

To install the update, open Settings on your iPhone, then select “General” followed by “Software Update.” You should see the iOS 16.6.1 software update there; tap to begin the installation.

If you don’t see the update, go back to the General page, then tap “About” to check your iOS version number. If it’s 16.6.1, you already have the update installed. If your phone is still using 16.6 or an earlier version, repeat the above steps. If you still don’t see an update, try restarting your phone. If that doesn’t make the update appear, double-check your internet connection and then wait a bit before trying again. read more