Wednesday, October 15
Tuesday, October 14
Wonderings 11
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Why me instead of someone else?
I have often wondered that and more importantly, why was I given all the skills and abilities I was given and not others?
SO...
here's the deal...
did my skills and abilities come from EVOLUTION or through someone or something messing with my DNA?
We are led to believe from a very early age that EVOLUTION made us who we are today.
- the complexity of how our internal organs work together
- the complexity of how our mind operates
- the fact that our liver re-generates itself
- the fact that our heart beats for 80-100+ years
- our complex immune system
- our bone, muscle, tendons, and nerve system
All of this simply occurred because of EVOLUTION...
NOW...
was our evolutionary process normal or did someone or something ACCELERATE the process so that our EVOLUTION occurred much quicker than it normally would have?
Why are some scientists even asking that question?
- I am 6 foot 1 inch
- Strong bones - strong teeth
- Large hands - long fingers
- Strong internal organs
- Brown eyes - black hair
- Square shoulders as opposed to rounded
- Feet a little smaller to support my height
- Heavy beard - moderately hairy
- Advanced mental capabilities but no genius IQ
- A semi-rare personality
Headlines
Nir Keidar/Anadolu via Getty Images
Israeli hostages exchanged for Palestinian prisoners. Hamas freed all 20 living Israeli hostages and Israel released nearly 2,000 Palestinian detainees yesterday as a ceasefire to end the devastating two-year war in Gaza was signed by President Trump and the leaders of Egypt, Turkey, and Qatar, who helped broker the agreement. Earlier in the day, Trump became the first US president since George W. Bush in 2008 to directly address the Israeli Parliament, where he declared the “historic dawn of a new Middle East” and urged Israel’s president to pardon Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s corruption charges. Questions remain about Gaza’s postwar governance and who will pay to rebuild the enclave, among other issues that the first phase of the ceasefire did not cover.
OpenAI and Broadcom ink custom chip deal. You are not having déjà vu—this is a different OpenAI deal than the three others you may have read about in recent weeks. The ChatGPT maker agreed with semiconductor giant Broadcom to jointly develop 10 gigawatts of custom AI chips starting next year. The arrangement follows similar ones OpenAI has made with Oracle, Nvidia, and AMD to increase the computing capacity needed for its AI expansion. Broadcom, whose stock popped by nearly 10% following news of the deal, has been one of the biggest winners of the AI boom, thanks to its custom chips called XPUs.
Apple minused its plus. Apple’s streaming service will henceforth be known as Apple TV after the company dropped the “+” in Apple TV+, it announced yesterday. That means the service will have the same name as Apple’s smart TV device and associated app. The tech giant did not explain the decision beyond wanting to give the streaming service, which is home to The Studio and Severance, a “vibrant new identity.” It’s the latest streaming rebrand after Warner Bros. Discovery reverted Max to its original name of HBO Max in July.—AE
Robert Reich
They’re likely to burst.
Friends,
What happens when huge amounts of money pour into poorly understood and unregulated industries that promise spectacular profits for a few winners?
At best, some investors lose their shirts while the lucky ones make fortunes. At worst, the bubble bursts and takes everyone down with it — not just its investors, but the entire economy.
My purpose today isn’t to worry you but to give you some economic information that may help you. I’m deeply concerned that two opaque industries are creating giant bubbles on the verge of bursting.
One is AI.
AI is worrisome enough as is — its insatiable thirst for energy and water, its capacities to override the wishes of human beings, its potential to destroy the planet.
My immediate concern is that AI is becoming a financial bubble whose bursting will harm lots of innocent people.
At A Glance
Study finds the one trait that makes for a great manager.
... and the six factors needed for happiness at work.
Visualizing the cars with the best resale value.
Simple steps to help prevent dementia.
How childhood shyness can be advantageous.
Words you didn't know were named after sounds. (w/video)
Guess the topic with Britannica's daily puzzle.
Some people are spending $200 on Halloween candy.
In partnership: A dose of inspiration, whenever you need it.*
Clickbait: Could we turn Mars green?
Historybook: President Dwight D. Eisenhower born (1890); Chuck Yeager becomes first person to fly faster than speed of sound (1947); Cuban Missile Crisis begins (1962); Martin Luther King Jr. wins Nobel Peace Prize (1964); American photographer Dody Weston Thompson dies (2012).
In The NEWS
Sports, Entertainment, & Culture
> The Las Vegas Aces sweep the Phoenix Mercury to win third WNBA championship in four years; A'ja Wilson wins finals MVP (More)
> "Family Matters" star Darius McCrary arrested near US-Mexico border after being declared a fugitive for having missed a court appearance over unpaid child support (More)
> The Milwaukee Brewers advance to the National League Championship Series for first time since 2018; will face off against the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 1 of the NLCS tonight (8 pm ET, TBS) (More) | ... see complete NL and ALCS schedule (More)
Science & Technology
> Nobel Prize in economic sciences announced this morning at 5:30 am ET, see here for updates (More) | The history of the Nobel Prize (More, w/video)
> Cofounder of Thinking Machines Lab, an AI startup launched by Mira Murati, leaves to join Meta; Andrew Tulloch previously turned down a package worth up to $1.5B from Meta (More)
> Scientists develop injectable gel to treat voice loss and help recovery from vocal cord injuries (More)
Business & Markets
> Stocks drop sharply Friday (S&P 500 -2.7%, Dow -1.9%, Nasdaq -3.6%) following renewed threats by President Donald Trump to levy tariffs on China (More) | Cryptocurrency market capitalization loses roughly $800B in 24-hour period (More)
> AstraZeneca and the Trump administration strike drug pricing deal, will sell some medications to Medicaid patients at a price equal to the lowest rate offered in other high-income countries (More)
> Warner Bros. Discovery rejects $20-per-share takeover bid from Paramount Skydance; Paramount completed a $150M acquisition of the Free Press last week (More)
Politics & World Affairs
> More than 4,000 civil service workers are laid off amid federal government shutdown, per court filing; hundreds of employees at the Centers for Disease Control have since been reinstated (More)
> Madagascar's president says coup attempt is underway as elite army unit takes control of the military and joins weekslong anti-government protests (More)
> French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu races to form a new government and present a budget by tomorrow's deadline after being reappointed to his role late Friday (More)
Growing Up
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It is difficult to say where I actually grew up because I was born in Raleigh, NC, and in less than a year moved to Alexandria, VA where I remained until the 8th grade when we moved to Cairo, Egypt where I attended and graduated from High School. After high school, I attended college in NC, got married, but left in 1990 to relocate in TN after a long divorce.
So, did I grow up in Alexandria, VA or Cairo, Egypt or both? I would say both...
While I liked Alexandria, Cairo, and Burlington, NC, I fell in love with the Tennessee Valley of East TN and prefer this location to all the others.
However, each location has its advantages and disadvantages, and I think liking the place where one lives is directly related to one's age.
We lived in the country in Alexandria during the 1050s and early 1960s and there were wooded areas on both sides of our community. This was perfect for young boys, like me... these wooded areas are no longer there.
Also, on either side of us about a mile in either direction, were two shopping centers that had drug stores. The boys with which I hung out would either walk to the drug stores or thumb a ride (before that got dangerous) that underscored a positive childhood.
Cairo, Egypt was a perfect place for teenagers going to high school with the Arabian Horses, desert hikes and excursions, everyone living in one community, foreign students, and things to do at night that were not based upon age but on the ability to pay.
The Piedmont of North Carolina offered a tremendous number of activities for college students including other schools like Elon College, UNC, Duke, Wake Forest, NC State, Guilford, High Point, and UNC-G but was not the best place to live for someone like me after college.
I preferred being in an area that was not so crowded with people and vehicles and which cost less to live, and which had no state income tax like Tennessee.
So, I grew up in areas that were perfect for me based upon my age level which was very fortunate now that I think about it. From that standpoint, I have had an IDEAL LOCATION OPPORTUNITY...
How physicists’ clever bookkeeping trick could underlie reality
A clever mathematical tool known as virtual particles unlocks the strange and mysterious inner workings of subatomic particles. What happens to these particles within atoms would stay unexplained without this tool.
Virtual particles are not real – it says so right in their name – but if you want to understand how real particles interact with each other, they are unavoidable. They are essential tools to describe three of the forces found in nature: electromagnetism, and the strong and weak nuclear forces.
Monday, October 13
Wonderings 10
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Death
What is death?
the end of life, I suppose...
although, some believe it is the beginning of life because there is an afterlife.
If there is an afterlife, is it different from Heaven because the only way into Heaven is through Jesu?
The afterlife is not conditional upon Jesus...
So, what is the afterlife?
No one knows... so, all we can do is speculate or make educated guesses... depending upon one's level of education... or is there another meaning for making educated guesses?
Personally... I believe, if there is an afterlife, then:
- we will not have bodies
- we will be spirits holding the essence of who we were
- so, we could have intelligence, knowledge, memories
- we will experience no illnesses, except maybe space sickness
- we will have no need for food or reproduction
- we will have no need for shelter or security
- we will be aware of our surroundings
- we should be able to communicate somehow
- we should be mobile
- we will have no need for spacetime
- we will have no need for gravity
