Tuesday, December 10
Monday, December 9
Don't Worry
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The world is a messed-up place right now with wars in Ukraine, Israel, Lebanon, Syria, and threats in the south China sea between China and Japan and Taiwan.
Analysists and Military Experts are predicting that we are on the verge of getting ourselves into a WWIII. I don't know if that's true or not but if it is, then I hope it won't be nuclear.
Is this all happening because a new US President is about to take office or because it is just coincidence that all of this is happening at the same time?
From age 19 to my current age of 77, new government or other country's pissing contests never adversely influenced my life except once that that was the Vietnam war when I was 19.
Prices go up, prices go down, but my wife and I have always still done what we wanted to do, regardless of who was President of what was going on in the world.
What has helped me the most is the following:
- My wife and I have been debt free for over 20 years
- My wife and I have a simple lifestyle
- My wife and I buy what we need not want
- buying habits
- vacation habits
- Lifestyle
- Exercise/eating habits
- stress reduction
Technology Trends for 2025
👋 Hi, I am Mark. I am a strategic futurist and innovation keynote speaker. I advise governments and enterprises on emerging technologies such as AI or the metaverse. My subscribers receive a free weekly newsletter on cutting-edge technology.
Time flies when experiencing exponential change! With 2025 approaching, it's time for my annual technology trend predictions—a tradition I've maintained since 2012 and one I deeply enjoy. Writing these articles allows me to reflect on the past year's predictions and explore the future with renewed curiosity.
In 2024, I named the year “The Year of Science Reality,” as technologies once confined to science fiction became tangible. Looking back, most of my predictions aligned closely with the developments we witnessed, though some advanced faster than anticipated, while others remain on the horizon.
Emerging Trends:
Sunday, December 8
In The NEWS
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol faces impeachment vote.
The National Assembly is poised to vote Saturday evening local time on whether to impeach Yoon after the conservative president temporarily declared martial law earlier in the week. Yoon's decision was based on the alleged presence of antistate, pro-North Korean influences within the country. Members of Yoon's party and the opposition liberal coalition have pushed for impeachment. See updates here.
Paris’ Notre Dame Cathedral reopens this weekend after 2019 fire.
A reopening service will be held tonight for over 1,500 invite-only guests, followed by an inaugural Mass tomorrow. Over 50 heads of state and government are expected to attend. The reopening comes more than five years after a fire in 2019 caused the now-861-year-old landmark's roof to collapse. Public viewing areas for 40,000 spectators will be set up along the southern bank of the Seine.
Appeals court upholds law requiring sale or ban of TikTok in US.
A federal appeals court upheld a US law requiring TikTok's Chinese parent company, ByteDance, to either sell the app or face a ban in the US by mid-January. The ruling dismissed TikTok's claim that the law infringes on First Amendment rights, emphasizing the US government's actions aim to protect its citizens from potential foreign adversarial threats. TikTok said it will take its case to the Supreme Court.
Manslaughter charge against former marine Daniel Penny dismissed.
The jury in the trial of Penny had reported Friday they were deadlocked and unable to reach a unanimous decision on whether he was guilty of manslaughter in the May 2023 death of Jordan Neely on a New York City subway. The judge dismissed the manslaughter charge after a request from prosecutors and instructed the jury to consider a lesser count of criminally negligent homicide.
US economy adds 227,000 jobs in November, more than expected.
The nonfarm payroll growth is up from a revised growth of 36,000 in October and beats economist estimates of 214,000 jobs. The unemployment rate edged higher to 4.2% from 4.1%, as expected. Average hourly earnings rose 0.4% month-over-month and 4% year-over-year—both 0.1 percentage point higher than expected. See all data here.
Romanian top court annuls presidential election result over interference.
Romania's Constitutional Court annulled the first round of the presidential election after intelligence services warned about a Russian influence campaign supporting conservative populist candidate Calin Georgescu. The decision means the entire first round of voting will be redone, with a new date to be set, following concerns about foreign interference and the integrity of the electoral process.
Baby Boomer
I belong to a group of people referred to as BABY BOOMERS... Those who were born after WWII... in my case it was 1947.
I am not sure if the BABY BOOMERS did anything more than start the ANTI-ESTABLISHMENT movement and then when we became middle-aged, became part of the establishment.
I remember saying when I was 50 years old... "let's stick it to the man... Wait a minute, I am the man..."
Some BABY BOOMERS became very wealthy, but I was not that concerned with building my wealth as I was with maintaining a simple lifestyle.
Consequently, I stayed in the South where low wages were prevalent and in 2,000 became debt free and maintained that status ever since.
My wives (two marriages) and I have always owned our homes with the first purchase being 1970.
I have never worked with an organization long enough to have a retirement program, so my current wife and I are living on social security and what we have saved. Not sure if it will be enough but somehow, we will make it work.
I don't regret anything that I have done or not done in my life so far and I would not change anything if I had it to do over again.
Hydrogen Teleported for the First Time
There is decarbonization that the world seems to be racing toward; hydrogen is seen to be one of the players in the clean energy revolution. Storage and transport remain big challenges in hydrogen, but innovations such as Liquid Organic Hydrogen Carriers or LOHC are remolding the face of hydrogen, making it more affordable and efficient in distributing it.
In a historic first, Exolum has created the world’s first commercial-size project that uses existing oil infrastructure to transport and store green hydrogen. It is based at the largest freight port in England, Immingham, and the project depends on organic hydrogen carriers, compounds that can store hydrogen in liquid form in a safe manner. READ MORE...
Saturday, December 7
In The NEWS
Sports, Entertainment, & Culture
> Los Angeles Galaxy take on New York Red Bulls in 2024 MLS Cup Final tomorrow (4 pm ET, Fox) (More) | 2025 FIFA Club World Cup draw revealed; see full preview for the 32-team tournament (More)
> "Scrubs" television series reboot in the works at ABC (More) | HBO's "Harry Potter" television series to begin filming in mid-summer 2025 (More)
> Art Basel, thought to be North America's largest art fair, begins today from Miami Beach; see full preview of events and exhibitions (More)
Science & Technology
> NASA delays mission returning humans to the moon from 2026 to mid-2027, citing a flaw in the heat shield of the crewed landing module (More) | The history of NASA in four minutes (More, w/video)
> OpenAI releases its new o1 large language model; company says it can perform complex reasoning tasks and has 34% lower error rates on advanced problems (More) | Everything you need to know about OpenAI, from its failed coup to becoming the industry leader (More)
> Dietary fructose can promote tumor growth, with the liver breaking down the substance into nutrients used by cancer cells for fuel; estimates suggest fructose consumption has increased 15-fold over the past century (More)
> US stock markets close lower (S&P 500 -0.2%, Dow -0.6%, Nasdaq -0.2%) ahead of latest jobs report to be released today (More) | Bitcoin retreats from $100K record (More) | Heard about bitcoin but don't know how it works? Click here (More)
> US judge rejects Boeing's guilty plea deal over 737 Max crashes in 2018 and 2019 that killed 346 people; judge says appointment of an independent legal compliance monitor should focus solely on competency, not diversity requirements (More)
> Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield announces, quickly reverses plan to limit length of time anesthesia can be covered during medical procedures in Connecticut, New York, and Missouri following backlash (More)
Politics & World Affairs
> Bullet casings discovered at scene of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson's shooting were inscribed with the words "deny," "defend," and "depose"; police have released additional photos of the suspect as search for shooter continues (More)
> 7.0-magnitude earthquake off of the coast of Northern California prompts temporary tsunami warnings, evacuation orders (More)
> Democratic Republic of Congo investigates suspected respiratory illness behind at least 71 deaths last month; government says it is on high alert as it awaits laboratory results (More)
Life Happens
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"Life happens when you are making other plans." John Lennon
Such a simple statement but obviously full of total truth.
How many times has this happened to you? It seems to happen to me quite often. Earlier I might have said, it happens every 3-5 years, but now, I think it happens quarterly.
Maybe when one is younger one is better equipped to handle the unexpected, so when it happens it is hardly ever noticed unless it is really traumatic.
Who knows...
Some say that it is the unexpected that makes life rich and fulfilling, but I am sure that Yoko did not think that when her husband, John Lennon, was murdered.
Of course, that is an extreme situation and most of the time, we are dealing with:
- vehicle issues
- house issues
- children's issues
- health issues
- family issues
- work issues
BLACKBIRD - A Flying Taxi
On Nov. 5, CycloTech, an Austrian company that builds flying car components, unveiled blueprints for its new "BlackBird" demonstrator aircraft — a flying car that uses a custom-made alternative to propellers.
Dubbed the "CycloRotor," this all-electric propulsion system is based on the principle of the Voith Schneider propeller (VSP) — which is frequently used on tug boats and ferries, CycloTech chief technology officer Tahsin Kart said in a promotional video.