In today’s newsletter we discuss Disney’s next Star Wars movie will be ‘The Mandalorian & Grogu’, Microsoft briefly surpassed Apple to become the world’s most valuable public company, NASA and Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works have created the X-59 Quesst to break the sound barrier quietly, the Seahawks have let coach Pete Carroll go after 14 seasons and one Super Bowl win, and Bad Bunny just picked up his 2nd Hollywood Hills mansion from Ariana Grande for a cool $8.3 Million with a capital M!

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Business

It was only about a 1 ½ months ago that I wrote about Apple becoming the 1st company with a $3 Trillion dollar valuation. Fast Forward to today and Microsoft briefly surpassed Apple to become the world’s most valuable public company on Friday, January 12, 2024.

I say “briefly”, because both company’s valuations went back-and-forth throughout the trading day, ending with Microsoft just slightly ahead of Apple, and there’s no trading today, which is Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

As it stands right now both Microsoft and Apple are both valued at $2.89 Trillion dollars with a capital T!

Microsoft tops Apple as world's most valuable public company

Space

How does a new X-59 Quesst, designed and built by NASA and Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works, fly at twice the speed of sound without creating a loud sonic boom when it breaks the sound barrier?

Well, science.

It’s been a little over 20 years since the Concord, the last supersonic jet, flew at twice the speed of sound. Now NASA has unveiled a revolutionary experimental supersonic “quiet” jet called the X-59 Quesst ("Quiet SuperSonic Technology") that “is designed to break the sound barrier without the thunderous sonic booms that typically occur when aircraft go supersonic.”

According to an article on The Aviation Geek Club website “The X-plane accomplishes this by a tailored design that separates the shock waves that produce sonic booms, making them quieter. The resulting supersonic “heartbeat” is dramatically quieter than the disruptive N-wave boom generated by today’s supersonic aircraft.

So it turns out there will be a sound when the X-59 Quesst does break the sound barrier, but it will be a much quieter and muffled sound instead of the loud booming sound from a sonic boom.

Among the X-59 Quesst’s many technical innovations is the lack of a forward window. If there’s now front facing windows then how does the pilot actually see where they’re going?

The X-59 Quesst “features what NASA calls the eXternal Vision System, or XVS, which consists of a camera and a cockpit-mounted screen that offers pilots an augmented-reality view of what's in front of the jet.”

The forward-facing window was removed from the design of the aircraft to “help reduce the sonic boom the aircraft produces.”

Flight tests are scheduled to begin this year over populated areas to survey people on the ground to better understand how loud the aircraft really is.

NASA unveils its revolutionary X-59 Quesst 'quiet' supersonic jet

Entertainment

There’s a new 'Star Wars' movie coming to theaters, but you may have to wait until 2026 to see it in theaters.

Disney has announced that the next ‘Star Wars’ movie will be 'The Mandalorian & Grogu'.

I can already hear the groans from the peanut gallery, but bear with me. Before you go saying Grogu is just a cheap marketing gimmick in the ‘Star Wars’ universe, like Jar Jar Binks, or those oh so cute sea-dwelling beakless birds called Porgs, let me reassure you that Grogu is neither of those. When we first meet Grogue we found out he was already 50 years old, but looked and acted like a child version of Yoda; same species, but it was made clear to use they were definitely not the same character. Grogue’s history is unknown to us, I have no doubt he and the Mandalorian have a lot of adventures ahead of them that I definitely want to tune in for.

So what do we know about this new movie entitled 'The Mandalorian & Grogu'?

Next to nothing.

Questions abound, especially considering the Season 3 of ‘The Mandalorian’ had such a good ending that wrapped up the plot so nicely, many are asking if there really needs to even be a Season 4. On the flip side, a Season 4 could be just what’s needed to set up the plot for the movie 'The Mandalorian & Grogu'.

To really get to the bottom of this I dove down a very deep ‘Star Wars’ rabbit hole and found myself on a Starwarsnewsnet.com article that breaks down when the 'The Mandalorian & Grogu' could come out, and brings up the question of Disney possibly updating their ‘Star Wars” movie release schedule in the coming months.

“As of now, the next Star Wars movie on the Disney calendar is set for May 22, 2026, with another one in December 2026. Depending on when they start production in 2024, a two-year gap seems a bit much between filming and the release date, especially when the same team has been able to produce an eight-episode season of TV in around 12 months on average.”

‘The Mandalorian & Grogu’ will be a continuation of the popular Disney+ series, but what actors will and won’t be in it isn’t known at this time. Obviously, it wouldn’t be the same if Pedro Pascal, who plays The Mandalorian doesn’t reprise his role. They already have all of the actor’s contracts signed for Season 4, which itself may or may-not be up in the air now.

Jon Favreau, Dave Filoni, and Kathleen Kennedy will produce the movie, with Jon Favreau directing the film.

In our dive down the ‘Star Wars’ rabbit hole I also came across how expensive it really is to make ‘The Mandalorian’. According to this article on Movieweb.com “‘The Mandalorian’ costs $15 million per episode to make. With a total of 16 released episodes, and eight more on the way, ‘The Mandalorian’ has cost a total of $360 million. This budget does not include the cost of the Grogu animatronic, which set creators back a total of $5 million.”

Here’s to holding your breath until 2026.

A new 'Star Wars' movie is coming to theaters: 'The Mandalorian & Grogu'

Sports

The headline reads “Seahawks coach Pete Carroll is out after 14 seasons and one Super Bowl win“, but that doesn’t do this story justice, so we will.

After 14 seasons with the Seattle Seahawk Pete Carroll has decided to “step aside”, which is a nice way of saying that management told him he’d be fired if he didn’t bow out nicely. He’ll be moving into an advisory role with the organization, which is essentially a cushy job you land when you’re removed as the head of an organization, but they still want to keep you on for PR purposes IMO.

Pete Carroll leaves his coaching role with a 137-69-1 record in the regular season, 5 NFC West titles, 10 playoff victories, 2 Super Bowl appearances, and 1 Super Bowl victory in 2014 when they won the Vince Lombardi Trophy.

Seahawks coach Pete Carroll is out after 14 seasons and one Super Bowl win

Real Estate

Did Bad Bunny just pick up another house to add to his expanding real estate empire?

Bad Bunny, otherwise known as Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, picked up a 1,600 square foot, 3 bedroom, 2 bath cottage that was built in 1946 and sits on a 0.74-acre property in an off-market sale by none other than Ariana Grande who only recently purchased the property herself only 2 years ago. Turns out she’s selling the property for a loss of nearly $600,000.

Did the Puerto Rican rapper sing one of his popular songs to Ariana Grande, and sweep her off her feet to talk her into selling at a loss? Or did she just realize her new $5 million Hollywood Hills house, that she bought from Cameron Diaz last year, probably has a bigger walk-in closet than this small 1,600 square foot home?

Records show that Bad Bunny picked up this new home for a cool $8.3 Million with a capital M!

This is Bad Bunny’s 2nd home he’s recently purchased in the Hollywood Hills, after he picked up a much larger $9 million dollar estate last year that we made a YouTube video on.

And Bad Bunny can definitely afford it.

His El Último Tour Del Mundo 2022 Tour grossed $230 million, and he had his best selling album in 2023 entitled Nadie Sabe Lo Que Va a Pasar Mañana, which beat out competition from Beyoncé, Drake and BTS.

Ariana Grande Sold Her Hollywood Hills House to Bad Bunny

So much news, so little time. Until tomorrow we’re signing out.

— Chris