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Thursday, September 4
Headlines
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Amazon nixes Prime perk that let members share free shipping. The company said its Prime Invitee program, which lets Prime members share free shipping benefits with people outside their household, is ending on Oct. 1. It’s encouraging the customers who benefited from it to get their own Prime subscriptions by offering them one for $14.99 for their first year (after that, it’s $139 annually). Amazon also encouraged current Prime members to check out Amazon Family, which lets them extend free shipping privileges, Prime Video, and other offerings to one adult, as well as teens and children, in their household.
Florida will become the first state to scrap vaccine mandates. At a press conference yesterday with Gov. Ron DeSantis, Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo said that every statewide vaccine requirement, including those required to attend public schools (such as immunizations against chickenpox, polio, measles, and hepatitis B), would be removed, saying, “Every last one of them is wrong and drips with disdain and slavery.” Public health experts criticized the move, saying that it could lead to severe outbreaks among residents and tourists. Every other state in the US still currently has vaccine mandates, with varying exemptions. Last year, the CDC released a report that found routine vaccines have saved the lives of 1.1 million children in the US and $540 billion in direct healthcare costs since 1994.
Job openings declined in July and employers remain cautious, according to new data. The Bureau of Labor Statistics released last month’s JOLTs data, which tracks hiring, layoffs, and quits. The employers surveyed reported 7.2 million job openings, down from 7.4 million in June, but other key data points remained unchanged from the prior month. However, the decline in “help wanted” signs points to a softening labor market, which could influence the Federal Reserve’s rate-cut decision due later this month. “This job market is frozen and it’s difficult for anyone to get a job right now,” the chief economist of the Navy Federal Credit Union said of the findings.—HVL
Robert Reich
How to understand his desire to control the Fed (and everything else)
Friends,
Today the Senate Banking Committee will consider Trump’s nomination of economic adviser Stephen Miran to be a governor of the Federal Reserve. Trump would like to get Miran confirmed in time for the Fed’s rate-setting meeting in two weeks.
Meanwhile, a federal judge has asked lawyers for Lisa Cook, the Fed governor whom Trump is trying to fire, to file more briefs as she pushes back against Trump. The law says a president can fire a member of the board only “for cause,” which normally means professional neglect or malfeasance. Trump alleges that Cook has committed mortgage fraud, but she has not been charged with any crime or convicted of any wrongdoing.
If Trump succeeds in getting Miran confirmed and firing Cook, he would be on track to have a majority on the Fed board. He’ll get a chance to name a new chair in May when Jerome Powell’s term ends.
At A Glance
Where Powerball winners could win the most (or least).
Visualizing US fall foliage predictions.
Ranking the best US cities for retirees.
Why credit cards have microchips in them.
Disney's Cinderella Castle is getting a makeover.
... and see the castle transform over the years.
Rectangle-shaped mega telescope could spot alien worlds.
What drink is healthier: alcohol or THC?
Clickbait: Hot mic catches Putin and Xi discussing immortality.
Historybook: Edmond Halley observes Halley’s Comet for first time (1682); Beyoncé born (1981); Google is founded (1998); "Crocodile Hunter" host Steve Irwin killed by a stingray (2006); Comedian Joan Rivers dies (2014).
In The NEWS
Sports, Entertainment, & Culture
> French actor Gérard Depardieu to face criminal trial over alleged rape accusations from an actress in 2018; Depardieu was found guilty in May of sexually assaulting two women in aseparate case (More)
> George Raveling, basketball Hall of Fame coach and longtime Nike exec, dies of cancer at age 88 (More) | Ohio State tops college football AP poll after Week One, with Penn State and LSU rounding out the top three (More)
> "Call of Duty" live-action film adaptation in the works at Paramount; the video game franchise has sold 500 million copies worldwide and brought in over $30B in revenue (More)
Science & Technology
> Cancer study reveals how pilocytic astrocytoma tumors, the most common form of childhood brain cancer, use a molecule called glutamate to grow (More)
> Engineers develop rubber band capable of generating electricity from body heat; could provide passive power for health monitoring, smartwatches, and more (More)
> Brain-computer interface allows paralyzed patient to control robotic arm via thought; device uses AI to decipher and transmit brain signals (More)
Business & Markets
> Federal judge rules Google can keep Chrome browser but cannot forge exclusive contracts and must share search data with rivals to rectify the company's monopoly on search; parent company Alphabet's shares rose in after-hours trading (More)
> US stock markets close down (S&P 500 -0.7%, Dow -0.6%, Nasdaq -0.8%) as President Donald Trump seeks expedited Supreme Court hearing on last week's lower court ruling that found most of his administration's tariffs illegal (More)
> Anthropic closes $13B funding round at a $183B valuation, roughly triple what the AI startup was worth during its last raise in March (More)
Politics & World Affairs
> President Donald Trump announces move of Space Command headquarters from Colorado to Alabama, following 2021 Air Force recommendation; decision is expected to bring $1B annually to Huntsville, Alabama's local economy (More)
> House Oversight Committee publicly posts Justice Department files on Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, mostly containing information already publicly known (More) | US strikes suspected drug-carrying vessel in the Caribbean, killing at least 11 people allegedly tied to Venezuela's Tren de Aragua gang (More)
> Second earthquake hits Afghanistan yesterday as death toll from Sunday's quake exceeds 1,400 people (More) | Israeli army begins ground operation in Gaza City after approving plans last month (More)
SOURCE: 1440 NEWS
Going to College
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I received bachelor's and master's degrees and worked for 45 years in and around education, some of that time was spent teaching.
Looking back, I wish I had never gone to college but enlisted in the Air Force, learned a technical trade, retired after twenty years, and started a second career at thirty-eight, and retired from that one at fifty-eight, where I could have begun a third career, retiring at seventy-eight.
Even if I had not the desire for three careers, two retirement programs and forty years of savings would have put me into a great retirement position.
The Air Force and the Navy are the two branches of the military that have the best training programs that you can use as a civilian.
Going this route, you would encounter no student loans that you would have to pay back for the rest of your career.
Think about this option because having to pay back student loans, and losing your job because of robots can be devastating for you.
Quantum memory array brings us closer to a quantum RAM
The internet, social media, and digital technologies have completely transformed the way we establish commercial, personal and professional relationships. At its core, this society relies on the exchange of information that is expressed in terms of bits. This basic unit of information can be either a 0 or a 1, and it is usually represented in electrical circuits, for instance, as two voltage levels (one representing the bit in state 0 and the other representing state 1).
The ability to store and manipulate bits efficiently lays the basis of digital electronics and enables modern devices to perform a variety of tasks, ranging from sending emails and playing music to numerical simulations. These processes are only possible thanks to key hardware components like random-access memory (RAM), which offer temporary storage and on-demand retrieval of data.
Wednesday, September 3
Headlines
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Google doesn’t have to sell Chrome. That’s the big takeaway from the ruling that US District Judge Amit Mehta handed down yesterday, almost a year after he found that Google held an illegal monopoly in search. The Department of Justice had suggested that the search giant sell off its browser as recompense for the situation, but Mehta wrote, “Plaintiffs overreached in seeking forced divestiture.” Instead, GOOG can no longer broker exclusive search contracts, and it must share the data it uses to determine what search results to show. Google said it would appeal the decision, which would allow it to delay paying penalties.
President Trump said he would ask Supreme Court for expedited tariff ruling. Yesterday at the White House, Trump told reporters that his administration would be asking the Supreme Court for an “expedited ruling” as soon as today regarding last week’s finding by an appeals court that said most of the tariffs implemented by the Trump admin this year are illegal. The appeals court delayed its own ruling from taking effect until Oct. 14 so that the Supreme Court could weigh in and potentially overturn its decision. “If you take away tariffs, we could end up being a third-world country,” Trump said.
Anna Wintour’s successor at Vogue has been named. And the new head of editorial content at the storied fashion magazine is Chloe Malle, a 14-year veteran of the publication who was promoted from being the editor of Vogue.com. Malle is the daughter of actress Candice Bergen and the late French film director Louis Malle. For now, she’ll report directly to Wintour, who remains the global editorial director and chief content officer of Condé Nast.—HVL
Robert Reich
Several culprits
Friends,
We are in the midst of the worst public tragedy of my lifetime — the despoiling and destruction of America. The destruction is now extending beyond American democracy to encompass the American economy, American science and learning, and American culture. People ask me, in outrage or despair, “How and why is this happening?” I have my answers, as I’m sure you do.
Donald Trump is the proximate cause, but he cannot be the only cause, because one man, no matter how malignant or sociopathic, cannot do the damage that is occurring to so many dimensions of American life. Nor can the small group of twisted sycophants and lapdogs around him.
At A Glance
Why some say you can't wear white after Labor Day.
The time engineers turned off Niagara Falls. (via YouTube)
"Magic phrases" that make kids listen to their parents.
World's highest bridge to offer bungee jumping.
Ranking US colleges by the best dorm rooms.
Never-before-seen photos of Projects Mercury and Gemini.
"Toy Story" is coming back to theaters.
Clickbait: Starbucks is betting on protein-packed coffee.
Historybook: Treaty of Paris signed, ending American Revolutionary War (1783); Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Marguerite Higgins born (1920); Author Malcolm Gladwell born (1963); Football coaching legend Vince Lombardi dies (1970).
In The NEWS
Sports, Entertainment, & Culture
> Novak Djokovic advances to US Open quarterfinals, extending his record of reaching 64 Grand Slam quarters (More) | No. 23 Naomi Osaka upsets No. 3 Coco Gauff to advance to the quarterfinals; see latest women's bracket (More)
> Mark Knoller, longtime White House correspondent for CBS, dies at age 73 (More) | Lee Roy Jordan, five-time NFL Pro Bowler, dies at age 84 (More) | Randy Boone, actor best known for starring role on "The Virginian," dies at age 83 (More)
> College football week one wraps, highlighted by No. 3 Ohio State topping No. 1 Texas and No. 8 Alabama falling to unranked Florida State (More)
Science & Technology
> Chinese law requiring clearly identified labels on all AI-generated online content goes into effect; government says effort is meant to combat misinformation (More)
> Newly discovered tectonic activity may be responsible for historic but unexplained earthquakes in Portugal in recent centuries (More) | An 8.5 magnitude quake in 1755 is considered Europe's first modern natural disaster (More, w/video)
> Mars study reveals planet's interior contains mile-wide structures left over from massive collisions around 4.5 billion years ago (More)
Business & Markets
> US stock markets close lower Friday (S&P 500 -0.6%, Dow -0.2%, Nasdaq -1.2%) (More) | Core personal consumption expenditures price index rose 2.9% year over year in July as expected; figure is highest annual rate since February (More)
> World's largest food company Nestlé dismisses CEO Laurent Freixe after one year in the role over undisclosed romantic relationship with direct subordinate (More)
> Spirit Airlines files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy for second time in one year (More) | More than 500,000 bankruptcies are filed in the US each year (1440 Topics)
Politics & World Affairs
> Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit kicks off in China's port city of Tianjin, with leaders from Russia, China, India, Iran, and six other nations in attendance (More)
> Federal judge temporarily blocks Trump administration from returning unaccompanied migrant children to Guatemala without deportation orders; Guatemala says it can accept 150 migrant children per week from the US (More)
> Antigovernment protests in Indonesia leave at least eight people dead; latest demonstrations focus on lawmakers' $3K monthly housing allowance, death of a motorcyclist during protests last week (More)
SOURCE: 1440 NEWS
Passing of Time
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There was a time when I thought...
- I cannot wait until I am 18 - to buy beer in WashDC
- I cannot wait until I am 2 - so that I can vote
- I cannot wait until I am 25 - my car insurance is the lowest
- I cannot wait until I am 50 - so I can say I've lived a half century
- I cannot wait until I am 60 - to qualify as a senior citizen
- I cannot wait until I am 67 - so I can retire with full benefits
Looking back at all of this from age 77, I can safely say that saying I cannot wait until... was one of the stupidest thoughts I ever had.
One should not wish for time to pass by just so a specific milestone can be achieved... time passes fast enough without wanting it to pass faster.
Sadly, one never reaches this level of understanding until one reaches an older age and by that time, it is far too late to wish life did not or had not passed by so quickly.
My advice is don't ever wish for time to pass by quicker than it needs to. Appreciate the fact that you can remain young and innocent for a very long time.
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