AI systems are trained on huge data sets using thousands of complex computer chips that gobble power.
ECONOMIC UPDATE – MARKET OVERVIEW
From housing to healthcare, from junk food to soda, across the spectrum inflation is eating away at consumers’ disposable income, and they are feeling the pinch.
AMERICAN DREAM DYING. PLANTATION WORKERS OF SLAVELANDIA TOO POOR TO BUY A HOUSE
The median selling price of a U.S. single-family home has reached $393,500, according to the National Association of Realtors. The U.S. Census Bureau pegs the price at $430,000.
TOP TREND 2024: BANKS GO BUST
Many U.S. regional banks posted steep drops in first-quarter profits and warned that the future looks no brighter.
THE UNITED STATES OF REPLACISM
Cities and towns across America are cutting services to citizens, in order to fund housing, healthcare and other benefits to Illegals, who continue to over-run America’s borders.
NETANYAHU DIRECTS U.S. TO CRACKDOWN ON PEACE PROTESTERS ON COLLEGE CAMPUSES
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed the American public last week in opposition to the anti-genocide protests that have broken out on college campuses across the U.S., calling these demonstrators “antisemitic mobs” that must be stopped.
NATO RAMPS UP WWIII WITH LARGEST MILITARY EXERCISE SINCE COLD WAR
NATO countries took part in their largest military drill since the Cold War in an effort to show Russia some of its capabilities as leaders prepare for a military confrontation with Moscow.
Global Economy
SPOTLIGHT: BIGS GETTING BIGGER
Merger and Acquisition took a break when the Federal Reserve and EU began aggressively raising interest rates from their zero and negative levels back in March and July 2022 respectively.
SPOTLIGHT: CHINA’S ECONOMIC STRUGGLE
Profits in China’s industrial sector fell last month on fewer exports and pressures from the country’s ongoing deflationary cycle that did little to spur the consumer economy.
TOP TREND 2023: OFFICE BUILDING BUST
The number of commercial real estate sales in Europe during this year’s first quarter was 26 percent below the same period in 2023, falling to a value of €34.5 billion, the Financial Times reported.
The Israel War
EXTERNAL, INTERNAL LAWYERS PUSH FOR WHITE HOUSE TO END WEAPONS SUPPORT FOR ISRAEL OVER GAZA WAR
U.S. President Joe Biden is facing calls from both White House lawyers and external attorneys who say it is likely that Israel has violated U.S. and international statutes that reject “disproportionate attacks on civilian populations,” according to Politico.
ISRAEL REJECTS U.S. CALL TO LOOK INTO REPORTS ON MASS GRAVES AT NASSER HOSPITAL IN GAZA
Nothing to see here. Israel last week rebuffed Washington's call for a thorough and transparent investigation into claims the mass graves were discovered around Nasser Hospital in Gaza’s Khan Younis after a weeks-long offensive at the health facility.
NETANYAHU DIRECTS U.S. TO CRACKDOWN ON PEACE PROTESTERS ON COLLEGE CAMPUSES
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed the American public last week in opposition to the anti-genocide protests that have broken out on college campuses across the U.S., calling these demonstrators “antisemitic mobs” that must be stopped.
AI
INVESTORS: SHOW US THE MONEY
Share prices for Amazon, Meta, and Microsoft fell last week as investors grow tired of seeing companies pour capital into AI research and development without producing enough revenue yet to justify the expense.
FROM THE “AI BEHAVING BADLY” FILE…
The World Health Organization (WHO) has created an AI to answer basic questions about health and offer advice about such things as healthy eating, mental health concerns, and quitting smoking.
CREATING A “TOXIC AI” TO PREVENT AIs FROM BECOMING TOXIC
AI researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology seem to have been inspired by the idea that “the only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun.”
Hi-Tech Science
CAN “EMOTIONAL RECOGNITION TECHNOLOGY” WORK?
A scattering of computer scientists and psychologists are laboring to enable computers to accurately recognize and respond to human emotions.
EXPECT AN EV BATTERY REVOLUTION BY 2030, WSJ SAYS
By 2030, a new generation of electric vehicle (EV) batteries will mean that “gas vehicles will cost more than their electric equivalents, some EVs will charge as fast as filling up at a gas station, and super-long-range EVs will make the phrase ‘range anxiety’ seem quaint,” Wall Street Journal technology analyst Christopher Mims wrote on 13 April.
TINY IMPLANT UNDER THE SKIN STIMULATES BRAIN IMPROVEMENTS
Zapping specific parts of the brain with tiny electric currents can treat neural and psychiatric conditions such as schizophrenia and Parkinson’s Disease as well as control chronic pain.