Wednesday, August 20
In The NEWS
Sports, Entertainment, & Culture
> MSNBC to change name to MSNOW, which stands for "My Source for News, Opinion, and the World," as part of Comcast's spinoff from NBCUniversal (More)
> Texas and Penn State lead all schools with three players apiece selected to college football's AP Preseason All-America team, with the regular season set to begin Saturday (More)
> Final defendant in Matthew Perry's October 2023 drug overdose case, the "Ketamine Queen," pleads guilty to five federal charges, including ketamine distribution (More)
Science & Technology
> Tennessee Valley Authority enters a deal with Google and nuclear startup Kairos Power to purchase electricity from a small modular reactor slated for 2030, marking the first US utility offtake agreement with an advanced nuclear plant (More)
> Surgery-free alternative to LASIK that uses electricity instead of lasers to reshape the cornea proves effective on rabbit eyeballs; initial results suggest the method could be a promising technique for correcting human vision (More)
> Largest-ever space antenna, spanning 39 feet, deployed to detect changes within fractions of an inch on Earth's surface, such as shifting ice sheets and subtle movements caused by earthquakes, landslides, and volcanoes (More)
Business & Markets
> US stock markets close near flatline (S&P 500 -0.0%, Dow -0.1%, Nasdaq +0.0%) as investors await annual policy speech from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell at the central bank's Jackson Hole, Wyoming, summit Friday (More) | How the Fed works (1440 Topics)
> OpenAI employees, current and former, look to sell $6B worth of shares to an investor group in a deal that values the AI company at $500B (More) | Japanese tech giant SoftBank to invest $2B in Intel (More)
> GoodRx shares jump 37.3% after online pharmacy announces it will begin selling Novo Nordisk's GLP-1 drugs Ozempic and Wegovy (More) | Novo Nordisk shares rise 3.7% following US approval of Wegovy to treat MASH liver disease (More) | Why semaglutides like Ozempic could transform the economy (1440 Topics)
Politics & World Affairs
> President Donald Trump says the US will help provide security guarantees to Ukraine in the event of a peace deal with Russia, encourages territory swaps; see other takeaways from Trump's meeting with leaders of Ukraine and Europe (More)
> Cable news channel Newsmax agrees to pay $67M to settle defamation lawsuit from Dominion Voting Systems over 2020 election claims (More) | President Donald Trump announces he will sign an executive order to end mail-in ballots (More)
> Texas declares the end of its measles outbreak, which has sickened 762 people since January, state data reveals; last confirmed case was reported July 1 (More)
SOURCE: 1440 NEWS
Best Time to Live
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My father received a master's degree in Sociology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, NC, joined the Navy during WWII as an aviation officer and at the end of the war, went to work for the Federal Government in the Department of Agriculture.
His job was strictly 9:00 am to 5:00 pm with an hour off for lunch, which if my math is correct works out to 7 hours of work each day for just five days a week or 35 hours, always having the weekends off and earning twenty days of vacation a year.
Half of the year, he was either flying around the US or flying around the globe for his job but seldom did he work more than 35 hours a week and seldom did he work during the weekends.
While he was working for the Federal Government, he say in the Navy Reserves, going to training one weekend a month and two weeks a years that was no counted as part of his twenty days of vacation.
At age 55, he was promoted to a Navy Captain and at age 62 he retired after a 40-year career earning the same amount of money retired as he earned working because he received a government pension along with his Navy pension (26 years). After he retired, the Government stopped offering retirement benefits to their employees.
Some would say that my dad was born at the right time because of how he benefitted financially from the system that was latter disallowed. However, I would disagree with them, because the cancer cures that we have available now, were not available back then.
It is not just the cancer cures, but the computers, laptops, smart phones, the internet, and AI.
So, one might say my generation was the best time to live but that would not be true either because of all the advancement that are yet to happen or be discovered.
Perhaps, one might say that the BABY BOOMERS was the last generation to experience life before technology turned the world upside down.
Using sound to remember quantum information 30 times longer
While conventional computers store information in the form of bits, fundamental pieces of logic that take a value of either 0 or 1, quantum computers are based on qubits. These can have a state that is simultaneously both 0 and 1. This odd property, a quirk of quantum physics known as superposition, lies at the heart of quantum computing's promise to ultimately solve problems that are intractable for classical computers.
Many existing quantum computers are based on superconducting electronic systems in which electrons flow without resistance at extremely low temperatures. In these systems, the quantum mechanical nature of electrons flowing through carefully designed resonators creates superconducting qubits.
Tuesday, August 19
Headlines
Andrew Caballero-Reynolds / Getty Images
Zelensky meets with Trump, who wants to set a meeting with Putin. Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky visited the White House yesterday, this time bringing a group of European leaders, wearing a suit, and getting a warmer reception from President Trump. The meeting happened after Trump met with Russia’s Vladimir Putin in Alaska to discuss a potential peace deal between Russia and Ukraine—but one that would involve Ukraine giving Russia land it had seized in its invasion, which Zelensky has said he will not agree to. After yesterday’s meeting Trump said he had begun arranging a meeting between Putin and Zelensky, and had discussed it with the Russian leader during a phone call, with a trilateral meeting to follow. Although no specific plan emerged, Trump also said the US could provide security guarantees to Ukraine.
Democrats return to Texas, clearing the path for GOP redistricting. State lawmakers— who fled Texas two weeks ago to block their Republican colleagues from using their majority to implement a new election map requested by President Trump that could add five Congressional seats for the GOP in the House—returned yesterday. This allowed the Texas House to have a quorum to meet for the first time in weeks. Republicans are now expected to pass the redistricting plan, after Gov. Greg Abbott, who accused the Democrats of having run “away from their responsibility,” called a second special legislative session for them to “finish” it. But the returning lawmakers said they were now “more dangerous,” having provoked a national conversation that included the governor of California’s threat to redraw his state’s map to counterbalance Texas.
US government mulls 10% stake in Intel as Softbank invests $2b. Negotiations are ongoing, but Bloomberg and the Wall Street Journal reported yesterday that the government is considering becoming one of the beleaguered chipmaker’s biggest shareholders by converting grants the company was given under the Biden-era Chips Act into an equity stake. At Intel’s current valuation, a 10% stake would be worth ~$10.5 billion—though the exact size of the stake and whether the government will move forward with the plan remains to be determined. Meanwhile, over in the private sector, Softbank agreed to buy $2 billion worth of Intel stock, giving it a ~2% stake. Intel has been trying to turn itself around after losing ground to other semiconductor companies.—AR
Robert Reich
How I'm spending my retirement
In a word: teaching
Friends,
This morning, a former student came up to me where I was sitting in my favorite coffee shop and asked, “Professor Reich, are you enjoying your retirement?”
I said “no.”
My answer confused and embarrassed her. “I’m … I’m sorry to hear that,” she said.
“Oh, I’m enjoying life,” I reassured her. “But I haven’t retired.”
“But … you retired from teaching, right?”
“I retired from classroom teaching.”
I gestured to the seat opposite mine. “Please sit down. It’s Sarah, right?”
“You remembered!” Her face broke into a big smile, and she sat. “But I only have a moment.”
I felt proud of myself for recalling her name. I’m terrible with names.
At A Glance
How to make perfect chocolate, according to science.
These 14 states could see the northern lights this week.
Cambridge Dictionary adds over 6,000 new words, including "skibidi.”
Ranking the highest pro athlete salaries by sport.
Is the obsession with Labubus akin to gambling?
These seabirds only poop while flying.
Jazz group turns a delayed flight into a live concert.
The first known person to be struck by a meteorite.
Clickbait: Grandma and grandpa's $100K memoir.
Historybook: Fashion designer Coco Chanel born (1883); Indianapolis Motor Speedway, home of the Indianapolis 500, hosts first race (1909); Former President Bill Clinton born (1946); Comedian Groucho Marx dies (1977); Final US combat brigade leaves Iraq (2010).
In The NEWS
Sports, Entertainment, & Culture
> Terence Stamp, Oscar-nominated British actor best known for playing General Zod in "Superman" films, dies at age 87 (More) | Tristan Rogers, actor who starred on "General Hospital" over a span of 45 years, dies at age 79 (More)
> World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler wins BMW Championship to become first golfer since Tiger Woods in 2006-07 to win five times on the PGA Tour in consecutive seasons (More)
> Taylor Swift's interview on the "New Heights" podcast sets a YouTube record for concurrent viewers with 1.3 million watching last week's live stream (More)
Science & Technology
> SpaceX receives approval for next test flight of its massive Starship, targets Sunday as launch day; 10th flight follows three failed flights, each experiencing separate technical issues (More) | How SpaceX catches returning rockets with "chopsticks" (1440 Topics)
> Researchers discover eight new genes linked to schizophrenia; study suggests the condition may be related to how DNA is organized within cells, and how brain cells communicate using the chemical GABA (More)
> Study reveals neurons help control the inflammatory response in the gut, play a role in inflammatory bowel disease, enteritis, and other conditions (More)
Business & Markets
> US stock markets close mixed Friday (S&P 500 -0.3%, Dow +0.1%, Nasdaq -0.4%) amid data suggesting consumer sentiment has dropped for the first time in four months (More)
> Billionaire twins Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss file to take cryptocurrency exchange Gemini public; company reported net loss of $158.5M last year (More)
> Roblox shares fall over 7% Friday on news Louisiana's attorney general is suing the company for allegedly failing to protect children (More)
Politics & World Affairs
> Bolivia's presidential election heads to a runoff between centrist Senator Rodrigo Paz and right-wing former President Jorge “Tuto” Quiroga; election comes as annual inflation exceeds 16% (More)
> Israelis engage in nationwide protests, calling for government to secure ceasefire, return hostages (More) | Israeli government is reportedly in talks with leaders of South Sudan to relocate Palestinians there (More)
> Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic vows tough response after anti-government protesters torch ruling party's offices over the weekend; protesters accuse the government of police brutality (More)
SOURCE: 1440 NEWS
Donkey or Elephant
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In 1967, I was 20 years old, and was a Kennedy Democrat (Donkey) even though he was assassinated in 1963 while I was still in high school. I was a Democrat because they were the party of the working man and the Republicans were the party of big business.
In 1981, I received my MBA from the Babcock Graduate School of Management at Wake Forest University and became a Republican, not so much because they were of big business but because they wanted:
- low taxes
- small government
- strong military
- strong commerce
The Democrats on the other hand, wanted just the opposite.
In 2020 and no doubt several years earlier, the Democrats changed from being the party of the working man, to party of progressive liberals and socialists who wanted government to provide most everything with the wealthy people paying for it.
Labor Unions, supported by the Democrats, want higher wages and more benefits for employees and while that makes sense on the surface, it is disastrous for an economy because it will raise prices and cause layoffs.
I don't agree with companies paying their management team as much money as they do and that should stop, but companies need profits for expansion, new product development, and for technology growth.
Companies should scale back what they are paying their management teams and government should strive towards a slow but consistently growing economy.
If an economy grows at 3% a year, prices will only double every 24 years and that is not a strain on the worker, however, wages should grow more than 3% a year otherwise the worker is making no progress at all.
Today's donkeys are moving into a socialistic society and while there are plenty of billionaires in the US to pay for a society like that, these billionaires will shield themselves from taxes.
However, the donkeys might get their way because the potential employment takeover by robots is just right around the corner, and we may be forced to move into socialism quicker than anticipated.
The Fastest Train in the U.S. Launches Aug. 28—Here's Everything to Know
On Aug. 28, Amtrak will launch its brand-new NextGen Acela trains, debuting the company's newest generation of high-speed cars. The rail company will roll out 28 larger trains through 2027, each offering upgraded amenities and increased capacity.
“In just a few weeks, history will be made with the debut of NextGen Acela as we launch a new standard for American train travel,” Amtrak's President Roger Harris said in a statement shared with Travel + Leisure. “NextGen Acela is more than a new train—it’s an evolution of travel.”
The trains will feature maximum speeds of 160 mph and utilize a new “tilt system” which provides a "smoother, quieter ride," according to Amtrak. Currently, Acela trains run with a maximum speed of up to 150 mph.
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